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The Standard Grainer 
Stainer and Marbler 


A New and Complete Exposition of the 
Art and Practice of Imitating Various 
Fine Woods with Paints and Stains 


AND OF 


Imitating the Common and Rare 
Marbles, with Numerous Illustrations 
in Black and Color 


By 
A. ASHMUN KELLY 


_ AUTHOR OF THE EXPERT SERIES OF BOOKS FOR HOUSE AND SIGN 


PAINTERS, INTERIOR DECORATORS, WOOD FINISHERS, PAPER HANGERS, 
ETC.. ALSO OF “THE DOMESTIC PAINT BOOK” AND THE “EXPERT 
PAINT MIXER” 


PHILADELPHIA 


DAVID McKAY COMPANY, Publishers 
604-608 South Washington Square 


ae 


Davm McKay Compa: 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 


MOTTON i. od hoc cc ee eee 7 
PART I 
THE IMITATION OF Woops BY GRAINING 
rere OvER OLD PAINT..>................ 17 
SPONDING AND | IUBBING IN................. 24 
Peete IN DISTEMPER......°.......0c-022. 28 
i nme AIN OVIAPIE..............---22.,. 41 
Siieeiitavien OF OAK WOODS.............. 51 
THE IMITATION OF MAHOGANY Woobp......... 69 
How To GRAIN WALNUT WoOoD.. paver tee LO 
IMITATION OF DIFFERENT inte Reser 85 
THE GROUND COLORS, GRAINING Coron AND 
THEE -LOOLS USED .. aay: eer 5 
NOTES ON VARIOUS heate OF pare 103 
BoM RACTICAL GRAINING NOTES............ 115 
PAR EAT 
ART OF Woop STAINING 
THE IMITATION OF WOODS WITH STAINS...... 123 
PART III 


THE ART OF IMITATING MARBLE 
DESCRIPTION OF TOOLS AND MATERIALS, ETC.. 151 


eg 


INTRODUCTION 


Ir is one of the pleasing signs of these modern times 
that the art of imitating woods and marbles with 
paint is enjoying a deserved revival, and, as a conse- 
quence, there is an ever-increasing demand for expert 
workmen to execute such work. There are a few 
remaining grainers of the not so distant past still 
following their art, and it is to such that we are 
indebted for whatever practical knowledge we may 
have regarding this kind of workmanship. This 
present work is intended to impart practical istruc- 
tion to those who cannot avail themselves of direct 
teaching from masters of the art, but who desire to 
become proficient, and we may be pardoned for think- 
ing that it will fulfil its mission with perfect satisfac- 
tion. At any rate, the author has done his best to 
make it a dependable guide and instructor. He has 
had at his command all the various books and articles 
that deal with the subject, and in this way has been 
able to compare and balance the various methods 
employed by different workmen, being also helped 
by his own experience in the art, very limited though 
it has been, and his intense love for it, a love that 
dates back from the time he was a mere lad, new in 
the school of painting. 


8 Introduction 


As may be conjectured by any one interested in 
this art, present or modern methods are somewhat 
different from those of by-gone days, while at the 
same time we should not flatter ourselves that we 
have, in consequence, greatly improved upon the art 
of those times. What we have accomplished, indeed, 
has been a greater facility for executing work of this 
kind, and we have also greatly improved the tools 
of the trade, so that it is now possible to do quite 
excellent work quickly and easily; so that the inexpert 
is enabled to do pleasing things in this line. Of these 
appliances the writer will speak further on. Just 
now a word concerning the old-time grainer and his 
work, not merely for its historic interest, but to com- 
pare with present-day advantages. Years ago the 
grainer was obliged to make his own graining combs, 
using cork, India-rubber, or leather, etc. His tools 
were few and simple, and if he was under necessity of 
making his tools, it is certain that he found them 
useful in enabling him to do work that was strictly 
individual, for he formed his tools with that purpose 
in view, or that is what it amounted to. Each man 
could have his own ideas as to what a piece of graining 
should look like, and in this way no two grainers 
would be turning out work so similar that few could 
tell anything as to its author. It is, of course, very 
desirable to have such variety of workmanship, all 
excellent, yet all different, like the work of the famous 
master in portrait painting, for instance. — 

The preparation of a graining ground then was a 


Introduction 9 


work of love as well as of perfectly good workmanship, 
consisting, as it did, of several coats of specially pre- 
pared paint, each coat having plenty of time for 
drying, and each coat made smooth and even or 
level. This is always important in good work, as 
much so today as a century ago, and no perfect job 
can be done without such preparation. Now we 
will do much of our work on ill-prepared grounds. 

We read in an ancient book of instruction how a 
job of oak graining was then done. Here is a formula, 
for instance, for making megilp: Take 8 ounces of 
sugar of lead and 8 ounces of pulverized rottenstone, 
which grind as stiff as possible in linseed oil. Then 
take 16 ounces of white wax and melt it gradually in 
an earthen vessel, and, when fluid, pour in 8 ounces 
of turpentine. Mix this well with the wax, and then 
pour the contents on the grinding stone to get cold. 
When cold, grind the rottenstone and sugar of lead 
with the wax and turpentine.’ It is no wonder that 
such graining endured for many years; forty, some 
say. I have seen some that I think had stood that 
long, and was still a beautiful piece of workmanship, 
much better than any specimens of modern times 
that I have seen, though we have a few now who are 
executing very handsome work. 

Our English brethren claim that the art of graining 
originated in their country more than a century ago. 
This is, doubtless, very true. William E. Wall, one 
of our oldest and most expert grainers, and whose 

1 Whittock, Painter and Glaziers’ Guide, London, 1832. 


10 Introduction 


book on the art has never been excelled in any point 
to the contrary, notwithstanding, tells us that the 
ancient Greeks were expert in imitating woods and 
stones. He also quotes from a recent work (1882) 
that describes inlaying of doors and other objects 
with rare woods, veneering, and the coating of woods 
with thin stucco to represent the growths of woods. 
This would appear to indicate that the grainer was 
at work three thousand years ago. But his graining, 
I conceive, was quite different from the art as we 
know it. 

Ruskin, in his day, condemned the practice of 
imitating woods and marbles, declaring that there 
was no ‘meaner occupation for the human mind.” 
A dictum of this kind from such high authority could 
not fail to influence the public mind against the art, 
and that is what it did, to the almost sheer extinc- 
tion of graining in Great Britain, and to a lesser 
extent, perhaps, in our own country. But in course 
of time the ban was raised by public opinion, and 
the beautiful and useful art again assumed its right- 
ful place in the circle of the useful arts. Then in the 
course of time circumstances occasioned another 
relegation of the art to the limbo of the undervalued. 
This was caused by the advent of wood finishing, by 
which interiors were fitted out with the natural 
woods, filled, stained, and varnished. Now such 
wood is extremely costly and scarce, and growing 
scarcer, so that its imitation is becoming necessary. 
By painting common woods and graining them we 


Introduction II 


get a very handsome approximation of real wood 
at a cost much less than fine woods, at least, can 
be obtained. Moreover, there is the old and sure 
argument that any old painted surface, given proper 
preparation, may be made to appear very attractive 
and at the same time most durable. 

And, finally, a word to the man who intends 
making graining his regular occupation. If it were 
possible for him to study under a competent master 
of the art nothing else could be as good. In such 
case he would have to spend some time, years of 
course, in order to master the art. But he would 
make sure and steady progress, and if possessed of 
talent he would become an expert. Without some 
talent I would not venture to say what the end would 
be. Now, talent is not genius; talent is a natural 
liking, and this can be cultivated and made perfect, 
though by slow process and patient, hard labors, 
while genius would mount to the summit at one 
bound, as it were. 

But, without the master? Yes, I believe he can 
master the art by studying this book and carefully 
following its directions, though it will be even a less 
easy or quick process than where the master mind 
directs his efforts. But it can be done, and he can 
become a very creditable workman. Of at least one 
thing I would bid him beware, not to attempt too 
great a thing at first. Be content to spend a very 
long time practising plain combing. A long time 
practising rubbing in color, and so on through the 


12 Introduction 


various parts of the work, from the laying of the 
ground color on up to the graining. Oak presents 
the most difficulty owing to its variegated growths, 
and while it offers the best field for doing attractive 
work of great mechanical skill, yet I would not do 
much with it at first. Rather, I should prefer doing 
some of the plainer woods, those having least growth 
markings, such as plain mahogany, cherry, maple, 
etc. Some woods have very plain markings, and 
these may be made with the fitch tool, or overgrainer, 
etc. Also some very fine effects can be secured with 
the rubbing-in brush alone. The idea is to secure 
pleasing effects, achieving these with proper color and 
shading, carefully used, and noting where the shade 
may be either too light or too dark, or the growth too 
broad or pronounced, or too weak and insufficient. 
The two principal elements in the work are color and 
- shading. If a man were to do nothing more than 
apply the graining color evenly all over a door, for 
instance, with shaded panels and rails, he would have 
a very pretty piece of work. Neatness counts for so 
much; where stiles and rails meet cut in the color so 
neatly that one might think it two separate pieces of 
wood, or parts of different woods. Nothing can 
appear worse in graining than slovenliness. Rub 
out your color thin and even, so that there will not 
be a speck of cloud on its whole surface, and half the 
job will be done. 

It is obvious that if we are to make a oe wood 
effect with colors we must have the real wood in mind, 


Introduction 13 


and as an amateur we must have a specimen of the 
wood before us. There are veneers of many sorts of 
fine woods that can be made use of as the artist uses 
his “casts,” and where these cannot be had, samples 
of the wood in heavier form can always be obtained 
from some wood-working mill. To bring out the 
growths it is well to fill and finish such samples, which 
will show both form and finish color, and make it 
much easier to imitate the wood as it will be when 
finished, or when grained and varnished. You can 
take a piece of oak board, and by repeated shavings 
new features of the wood will constantly appear, and 
in which case it will be necessary only to oil the fresh 
surface. 

This work consists of three parts, namely, graining, 
staining, and marbling. The grainer is usually 
looked to to do the marbling, and marbling is often 
spoken of as graining by experts. But staining is 
within the house-painters’ and wood-finishers’ prov- 
ince alone. Yet it bears such relation to graining 
that we cannot avoid placing it with graining in a 
work of this kind. Graining is the imitating of woods 
by means of paints, while staining improves or alters 
the appearance of woods, and in some cases is used to 
do what graining does, causing them to appear other 
than the actual wood itself. For instance, with some 
mahogany stain we cause birch to look like mahogany. 

There is no doubt, therefore, that the grainer will 
find the part devoted to stains and staining of prac- 
tical value in his general run of work. 


14 Introduction 


In the preparation of the work on marbling I have 
made use of several experts’ accounts of methods, 
and by carefully editing these and weaving the good 
and dependable together have succeeded in my earnest 
wish to give full and clear, understandable instruc- 
tions to the learner, the one who cannot study under 
a master of the art. If he will begin with the simplest 
marbles and try to master them, he may with con- 
fidence proceed with the more elaborate ones with ~ 
equal chances of succeeding. Every grainer should 
know how to marble and also how to stain woods. 
And if the plain house painter will try, he too may 
become proficient enough to do the odd job that comes 
his way, besides which there is genuine pleasure in 
imitating both wood and marbles, that alone should 
justify the time and trouble spent in learning. 3 

The author thanks the E. I. Du Pont De Nemours 
& Company for the privilege of using colored plates 
in this book. Plates are selected from the E. I. Du 
Pont De Nemours & Company’s booklet, “Modern 
Wood Finishing,’ which gives a concise yet compre- 
hensive account of all the various woods used in 
house construction and finishing. : 


The Standard Grainer, 
Stainer, and Marbler 


Peele thie FIRST 


THE IMITATION OF WOODS BY GRAINING 
Chapter I 


GRAINING OVER OLD PAINT 


WHERE graining is to be done over old paint, or 
on work that has been previously grained, the surface 
will have to be made solid and smooth. Sometimes 
graining is done over a surface that has had several 
coats of white paint, and when the graining is damaged 
and some of it flakes off, as it will from hard use, the 
white will show through and look very unsightly. 
To secure the best possible ground for graining it is 
well to remove the old paint by burning off with the 
gasoline torch clear down to the primed wood. Then 
build up the foundation for graining with as many 
coats of ground color as may be necessary. As a 
rule, a few coats are to be preferred to many, and on 
new work grainers insist that two coats, primer and 
ground coat, only are necessary. ‘The idea is, that 

17 


18 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


with little paint under it the graining will not be so 
liable to chipping and cracking. 

A strictly first-class job of graining means a lot of 
preparatory work, and it may be of interest to know 
how the English grainer did it years ago. He may 
do it the same now, though I suppose times have 
changed with his trade as it has with ours. From an 
interesting article on the subject of graining an old 
drawing room I cull the following: 

“In the first place, you must burn off all the old 
paint. Then get some pumicestone and a bucket of 
water. Wet the woodwork with water, applied with 
a flat brush. Rub the painted surfaces down with 
the pumicestone (lump) until you have a smooth, 
even surface. If the pumicestone becomes clogged 
with old paint, rub it and another lump together, 
using water freely. Do the moldings with sandpaper. 
When dry and clean, the paint is applied. The 
paint must be applied very carefully in order to avoid 
brush marks and to get the surface perfectly smooth. 
When dry, putty all holes and other imperfections, 
using hard-drying putty. When the putty is hard 
dry it must be sandpapered smooth. Then the floor 
is swept, all wood work is dusted off, and finally the 
floor is washed.”” The idea is to have no dust to mar 
the work, while the author of the article suggests 
that it is desirable to have a tidy, clean room to work 
in, and also to look inviting to a stranger. A second 
coat of paint is next applied, the first coat being white, 
though for what reason we are not informed. This 


Graining Over Old Paint 19 


coat is rubbed with “spent”? or worn sandpaper. 
Again the work is dusted off and the floor swept 
clean. The work is then ready for the graining. 

The grainer quoted was preparing for maple grain- 
ing, and hence the white ground, though a ground 
tinted to match the graining ground would seem to be 
better. 

The ground color on old work should be thinned 
with equal parts of raw oil and turpentine, with a 
little driers. This thinning liquid may be mixed 
and kept in a vessel, well corked, for ready use. On 
jobs having two-coat work and where the wood is 
sappy, and maybe the work rough from the painter 
having used too much driers in his priming coat, this 
form of thinning gives good results. The work will 
not look cloudy or spotty when rubbed in to grain. 
Two-coat work on new wood often does this. 

Sandpapering between coats makes a great differ- 
ence in the finish of a job as to its appearance. And 
the groundwork should always be sandpapered before 
it is rubbed in for the grainer. ‘This, of course, means 
a light sandpapering with fine or old paper. 

For mixing the ground color for graining it is well 
to get the finest colors ground in oil. Otherwise you 
will have a gritty ground that will require more sand- 
papering than where fine colors are used. Also it is 
advised to strain the paint before using it. 

One of our experts tells us that he uses dry colors 
for making his graining colors, explaining his prefer- 
ence for these over the ground-in-oil color by saying 


20 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


that it is impossible to get as satisfactory oil colors as 
dry. The latter are not so easily adulterated. He 
excepts from his list of banned pigments burnt sienna, 
Vandyke brown, and black. ‘Then there is the advan- 
tage of having the one kind of pigment suitable for 
both water and oil graining, which is true enough. 

There is a difference of opinion regarding the color 
of the graining ground for oak. Some grainers con- 
tend for a dark ground, as giving a truer woody 
appearance. ‘They say that if the ground is light and 
the graining color dark and thick there will be a muddy 
effect. On the other side, it is held that the ground 
should be made a little lighter than the lightest part 
of the wood; that it is better to have the ground too 
light than too dark. You can shade over a light piece 
of work, but cannot do much with a ground that is 
too dark. By repeated glazing it is possible to make 
walnut on a white ground. At any rate, it is true 
that the ground must be right, whatever that may be, 
in order to get good work. Personally, I prefer the 
lighter ground, and also prefer to make the ground 
color from the same colors used in making the graining 
color. I do not know that this plan has been used 
by others, but it is worth trying; take some of your 
graining color, let us say it is oak, and color the paint 
for the ground. This seems to be the natural way 
to get a harmonious blending of color. 

As to whether the ground should be flat, semiflat, 
or gloss, it would perhaps be best to have it rather 
flat, therefore hard, than too flat. In the latter case 


Graining Over Old Paint 21 


the ground would be too absorptive. But much will 
depend upon the kind of graining that is to be done. 
One authority says that it is a matter of individual 
preference, some liking it mixed with 3 parts of oil 
to 1 part of turpentine, while others may prefer half- 
and-half. The former gives a hard gloss suitable 
for oil graining color and steel combs. For water or 
distemper color graining, he adds, a dull gloss, made 
by using rather more turpentine than in the foregoing 
formula, is better, as two coats of varnish are required 
on such work, while, if the ground is rather oily and 
yet hard enough, one coat of varnish will do, as the 
varnish binds the pigment when the water has evaro- 
rated. A good ground cannot be had from a dead- 
flat paint. There must always be some oil in it. 

An old grainer once suggested to us that perhaps 
the reason why varnished graining sometimes cracks 
is because a brittle varnish has been applied over a 
ground that was not made flat enough. That has 
been his observation and experience, and he now makes 
his grounds as flat with turpentine as possible, with 
the shading color the same. It is, of course, rather 
difficult to do a nice job of shading with a very flat 
color, and in oak work we cannot possibly do fine 
work without some wax in the color to make it stand 
up or remain set when the comb is drawn over it. 
This is the purpose of a megilp, described in another 
part of this work. 

One grainer wrote us about trouble he was having 
with his graining: ‘I take pains,” he said, “but in 


22 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


spite of it my graining does not look right some time 
after it has been done. The work is what might be 
called fairly done, so far as mere imitation goes, but 
the work does not wear well, and I would like to 
know why.” ‘Trouble often comes from using too 
much oil in the graining ground; instead of oil use 
some varnish containing oil enough to be elastic. If 
on new wood, let two coats do, the primer coat to be 
as heavy as the second and last. A hard as well as 
a solid ground is needed. Rubbing on too much 
graining color also is bad. White pine with much 
sap should be shellacked, and one coat of ground 
color on that. Use turpentine, but no oil in the var- 
nish. Asarule itis unsafe to varnish a grained surface 
too soon after the graining is done. The work will 
wear ever so much better if several days elapse before 
the varinshing is done. 

A grained front door may be left without a coat of 
varnish if the graining color is made with plenty of 
oil in it. Perhaps a little elastic varnish with the 
graining color may be better still, giving a hard, 
glossy surface that will resist the weather well. 
Varnish is liable to crack over grained work outdoors, 
and is especially liable to fail under a strong sun. 
Some grainers advise a coat of raw oil over the grain- 
ing, with a little turpentine and drier added, rubbing 
it in well, and not allowing much on the surface, or 
at least not enough to cause runs. Others apply the 
oil as one would a coat of varnish, with the brush, but 
rubbing it out so it will not run. But if varnish is 


Graining Over Old Paint oe 


_used, then it is better to apply it very thin, and after 
that it may be oiled at intervals. It is a good idea to 
oil and rub a grained front door occasionally, as this 
renews its freshness and adds to its life. 

When you have an old door to grain over, and are 
not to remove the old paint, and especially where the 
old paint is “hard and slick,” as painters call it, it is 
well to apply a wash of lye water, or paint: remover, 
as this will remove the outer coat and give a good 
surface to ground for the graining. Rinse the surface 
well with clear water after the lye, and wash or rub 
off with benzine and a tag if you have used paint 
remover. Then rub down with steel wool of the 
proper number, to get a nice, smooth surface. Benzol 
is still another wash that would be useful in this case. 


Chapter IT 


GROUNDING AND RUBBING IN 


ONCE, when a young man at the painting trade, we 
asked our grainer, who had not long been with us, 
what color he would prefer for his ground—it was for 
a job of chestnut, if memory is not at fault; we were 
to do the grounding for him. His reply was rather 
surprising, as our idea was that the grounding was 
about as important as the color of his graining. 
“Any color will do me.” 

As a matter of fact, each wood requires its own 
particular colored groundwork, though, of course, 
there are some grounds that will do very well for 
two or more different woods. We might pull through 
with the one ground for mahogany and cherry, or 
the one for very pale oak and yellow pine, and so on. 
Still, each one of these woods should have its own 
colored ground. 

The best expert grainers agree that the ground 
color should agree with the color of the lightest part 
of the wood that is to be imitated, for it is easier to 
tone up a light effect with darker color than to do 
the reverse of this. Grainers often complain that 
when they are called to do a job they find the ground 
entirely wrong, so that it is impossible for them to 
do their best with the work. Then grainers have 
their particular ideas regarding what the color should 

24 


Grounding and Rubbing In 25 


be, though holding in the main to the principle laid 
down and concerning the relation of color and wood. 
Let it be said here that it is not the raw wood that is 
to be matched for the groundwork, but the wood as 
it will appear after it has been finished, and which 
will, of course, be darker and richer than the raw 
wood. ‘This is why it is necessary when you have 
doors to do in a room that has been finished in the 
natural wood to do that work before doing the doors, 
as then you can match up to the finished natural 
wood, something quite impossible otherwise. Again, 
as the natural wood finish grows darker with time, it 
is well to make the graining darker than the natural 
finish, just a shade or so, which will not look at all 
inharmonious. 

Graining is done in two different mediums—oil and 
water; to this might be added a third—spirit—this is 
rarely done, and then only in case of quick work. 
The ground for water or distemper graining should 
de flatter than that for oil graining, as water color 
does not take to an oily ground, but does very readily 
toaflat ground. This fact must be remembered when 
about to lay a ground for a job of graining. Exterior 
work, such as a front door, should be done in water- 
color graining, while on the inside either oil or water 
may be used, as preferred. Some woods look best 
when done in distemper colors, while others appear 
best when done in oil. This will be described later 
on, in appropriate places. In some cases both oil and 
distemper colors are used, as when overgraining. 


26 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


Some grainers have a method of laying the ground 
for light-colored graining on white pine or spruce, or 
white wood, by giving the raw wood surface two coats 
of white shellac, applied very thin. Others use and 
recommend a coating of white glue, which does very 
well under oil graining, but not so well under dis- 
temper color, as the water or mixture of water and 
vinegar will soften up the glue. It might be well to 
apply a coat of white glue, and over this lay a coat of 
white shellac varnish, saving a coat of varnish, and 
getting just as good a result. This, of course, where 
dampness cannot injure the giue size. 

It was stated in the preceding chapter that the 
ground should always be made as smooth and level, 
or even as possible in order to get the best effects. 
‘This cannot be too often repeated, because while the 
expert may do very well with an indifferent ground, 
you who are not expert will be greatly handicapped 
by such a ground; in other words, the task will be 
rendered much easier for you if you have the right 
ground, smooth and having the right color. Graining 
is not simply the forming of certain features seen in 
the planed and finished wood, but more the placing of 
transparent colors over a colored ground. Graining 
could not be accomplished with other than transparent 
colors. It would be simply painting, opaque, not 
transparent. 

Sometimes the ground does not take the graining 
color properly, the color creeps, and even when the 
graining color is in oil, water color, of course, being 


Grounding and Rubbing In 27 


the worst offender of the two. To prevent this, or 
to cure it when it occurs, we have recourse to rubbing 
a little whiting over the surface with a piece of wet 
rag; or gasoline will do very well. If whiting is used, 
see that it is brushed away after it has been rubbed 
on well. ‘There is no objection to a little gloss in the 
ground if the ground will take the color right. 

If the ground is to be lightly sandpapered before 
the graining color is rubbed in, be careful not to make 
any scratches, as they will show through the work. 
This is especially hable to occur with light colored 
woods. Grainers usually like to sandpaper the work 
before graining, but they are very careful in doing it. 

The English grainer uses red lead in his grounds, 
and this is especially good in the case of old work, 
as it helps bind the new paint to the old. They use 
one-third red lead to two-thirds of white lead. The 
red lead is also a drier, hence little japan is required 
when red lead is used. This is thinned out with 3 
parts of raw linseed oil and 1 part of turpentine. This 
is for the priming coat on old work or new. 

There is nothing so good for a graining ground as 
lead paint, and though some grainers profess to have 
had satisfactory results with certain waterproof 
distemper coatings, it seems unreasonable that such 
should be the case, as such grounds cannot be durable, 
and also they usually contain some form of lime, 
which, of course, is inimical to the oil colors. 


Chapter III 


GRAINING IN DISTEMPER 


OPINIONS regarding the durability of distemper 
color graining vary among experts, who should know 
their subject thoroughly, and whose opinions are 
worthy of serious consideration. Just why experts 
should differ it is hard to explain, but we know that 
in no line of work, art or industrial, is there perfect 
unanimity of opinion. Regarding its wearing quali- 
ties, one expert, an English workman, did two panels 
in water color, and gave them one coat of varnish, his 
contention being that one coat of varnish was equally 
as good as more than one coat; the job was in oak. 
After two or three years he asked the party he sent 
the two panels to how they did, and the reply was 
that they were “holding their own quite satisfac- 
torily.”’ | 

The question in this case was not whether water- 
color work was durable, but whether more than one 
coat of varnish was necessary. But it did show that 
the work stood well, likely as well as an oil-color job. 
One significant remark the same workman made was 
that, to his mind, there was nothing as good for doing 
oak graining as the distemper method, if done well 
and clean. A work on graining issued by an English 


firm states that oak graining in distemper is in little 
28 


Graining in Distemper 20 


demand, and the idea seems to be that it is not very 
well done that way. Here we see how experts differ. 
A London grainer, in a paper read before a convention 
of painters, states that there are in his city samples 
of work done in distemper, both interior and exterior, 
done thirty years, that are still in a good state of 
preservation. He added: “In our work this season, 
outside, we have been obliged to burn off and regrain 
eight doors. All these doors were done in oil color 
graining, and only one door was found in good 
preservation, and that had been done in distemper 
nine years before.’ He further informs us that “‘it 
is his understanding that in some places most of the 
graining is done in oil but in London we are enjoying, 
or suffering, a ‘renaissance’ of the art of water-color 
graining—which may be the result, to some extent 
at least, of a tendency on the part of some to break 
away from old forms and traditions.” 

I think it is not a question of mere durability, for 
in that case nothing can excel oil color, but a question 
of method for producing the best effects. We know 
that in graining maple, for instance, we can get finer 
effects with water color than with oil, and so, too, 
with some other woods, such, for instance, as those 
having very faint and modest figuring, or where, on 
the other hand, the figuring is involved or fantastic, 
as in crotch mahogany or walnut burl. It is true, of 
course, that we can and do produce these unique 
effects with oil color, but not so readily or so per- 
fectly, J.,think, as with water color. 


30 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


Quoting again from our London grainer, regarding 
the relative merits of water color and oil color, this 
is his conclusion: , 

“There is no doubt that water color has many 
advantages over oil. The ground, being flat, is easily: 
and quickly prepared, it rubs smooth, and can be 
grained on two coats. Work can be grained and 
varnished the same day. ‘This is not advisable, of 
course. It can be given two coats, if necessary, and 
be grained and varnished in one day. ‘There is no 
doubt that a first-class job can be done in about half 
the time required for oil. It can be rubbed in and 
grained more quickly and with a better effect for the 
amount of labor required, while it is cleaner to handle. 

‘“‘However, it is only fair to give some of its dis- 
advantages. Ona hot, dry day the color dries before 
it can be worked. Then, if the weather be very cold, 
and the work is outside, the color may freeze as fast 
as applied. Without varnish it would not stand 
outside as well as oil color, and it must be kept 
varnished. But the fact that it will not crack will 
offset all its disadvantages, I believe. 

“T have found the water-color method a great bless- 
ing; I regard the oil-color method as I do the old horse 
and vehicle as a conveyance, and if I had to go back 
to it I should want to retire from business.”’ 

A pretty strong advocate for water or distemper 
graining, and his talk is given here for the benefit of 
those beginning the work of graining, though it will 
be of interest to many experts as well. He wants his 


Graining In Distemper aT 


brother grainers to try it, but advises them not to 
abandon the oil-color method of graining, but to use 
both systems side by side. 


GRAINING MAPLE AND OAK IN DISTEMPER 


Rubbing in water color may be done with a brush 
or sponge, and if the color creeps or cisses, as it is 
variously called, a little whiting rubbed over the 
surface will make it right. Some use soap, but this 
we do not think as safe as whiting. The beginner 
must get in the habit of working fast, for the water 
color dries rapidly, especially in a warm room. Of 
course, if the work is unsatisfactory he can wash it 
off and begin over again, and this, indeed, is what he 
will likely have to do in practice work. ‘The idea is 
to get the habit of quick working. It is advised that 
you do parts at a time; thus the panels may first be 
done, wiping all color away that does not belong to the 
panel, and thus doing every one. Then stiles and 
rails, cutting off square at tops and sides, /using a 
stiff piece of paper, shellacked, to make a clear cut. 
Leave the long rails to the last. ‘To remove the color 
have a wet sponge. 

Distemper colors come in 1-pound jars, and need 
only to be thinned with water, to which add a little 
cider vinegar, as acetic acid vinegar does not have 
the necessary glutinous substance that makes vinegar 
so useful in graining; it is a “‘binder’’ to the water 
color. Mix some in a suitable vessel, one large 


32 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


enough to render the use of a wide brush or sponge 
feasible. Mix the color thin. Lay a paper on the 
floor at your right-hand side, and on it place the color 
and tools. Have also a basin or bucket of clean water. 
Dip the sash tool into the color, then rub in the top 
panel. If the tool is too small, use a mottler of 
sufficient size to spread the color evenly and smooth. 
Brushing the rubbed-in*surface now with the badger 
blender will greatly improve it. We are doing a door, 
of course, which is the best object in a room that we can 
practice on. And we will suppose a job of maple is on. 

With a mottler in the right hand, and a damp cham- 
ois or leather in the other, we are ready. The leather, 
by the way, has to be dipped into the water frequently 
and be well wrung out. With color on the large 
mottler run it along the right-hand side of the panel— 
assuming vertical panels—and gradually thin it off 
in breadth as you approach the middle of the panel, 
then broaden out again as you approach the other 
side. Now cross-mottling comes in. They follow 
pretty much on the same lines as those just described. 
To do this cross-mottling you must push the ends of 
your fingers into the hair of the mottler, which will 
give the irregular and broken lines seen in maple 
wood; see that neither the first nor second mottling 
is straight, and be careful that the cross-mottlings 
are not so thick or broad as those first put in. 

It is important that the brushes used in this work 
are kept clean, especially the mottlers, for they get 
full of color as the work proceeds. To clean them 


Graining in Distemper 33 


wipe the ends of the mottler on the leather, held in 
the left hand. The leather is cleaned by dipping in 
the clear water and wringing it out. In this way 
both mottler and leather are kept clean and in work- 
able condition. 

Now take a 1-inch cutter brush and here and there 
wipe off a bit of the color, thus leaving the mottles 
bright in places, and take: the badger brush and 
soften the raw edges left by the mottler. This 
softening with the badger must be done across the 
panel, using the tip ends of the hairs. 

Now have a piece of round stick, one about 1/8- or 
3/16-inch thick, and lap a piece of chamois around it. 
This gives you a tool something like the end of a 
pipe, its purpose being to make the eyes or knots of 
the work; it is dipped in color, then printed on the 
surface of the work, on the lighter parts of the mot- 
tlings to the darker; place little groups of dots in 
some places, practice eventually showing where they 
look the best and most natural. By examining a 
piece of maple that has smoothed up you will notice 
on both sides of the eyes or tiny knots bright lights 
or shadows. ‘These are put in by taking a piece of 
leather, wet with water, upon the end of thumb or 
finger and wiping out the bright lights or shadows 
about the eyes. 

Now we come to the overgraining; the color for 
this work must be quite thin, and be made from burnt 
sienna. This overgraining must not be too pro- 
nounced, but be sufficient only to be visible. Take a 


34 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


sable pencil and dip it in the color; begin penciling 
lines about the center of the panel, and go around 
the groups of eyes, extending the lines from one group 
of eyes to another, until you have filled up the center 
from top to bottom. Next, take the pencil over- 
grainer, using the same color, and draw it down the 
panel, running it in and out, to follow the lines of 
the parts already penciled in, gradually fining down 
until there is nearly a straight set of veins. 

Other panels may be done in the same manner, but 
the mottling should be changed, and also the over- 
graining, in order to afford variety and avoid mo- 
notony. 

Now we will assume that the panels are done, and 
that we are ready to proceed with the rest of the door. 
First, clean off the molding with a wet sponge. ‘Then 
take a large sash tool and rub in the middles, one at a 
time. Mottle these, here and there, but not too 
much; then use the badger brush on it, as previcusly 
described. Then go over the work with the pencil 
“overgrainer, shaking your hand at the same time, 
which will give to the penciling a waving appearance. 
which, of course, adds greatly to the attractiveness 
of the work, making it look more natural. ‘This is 
done only here and there and follows the line of the 
grain. When this is dry, place the straight-edge on 
the joints and wipe off the color from the cross-rails 
with the leather. The straight-edge is the shellacked 
paper, or whatever you peel. use for the purpose of 
cutting in. | 


Graining in Distemper 35 


Now grain the cross-rails much as you have done 
the panels, but making a contrast by means of color; 
or, if preferred, the cross-rails may be done more 
like the stiles, always cutting the joints clean. Very 
much of the success of a good job of graining, whether 
done in oil or water color, comes from even coloring 
and clean-cut divisions where the different parts of 
the door are joined. The grainer has an advantage 
over the wood-worker in this matter, for the former 
may make all his work perfectly harmonious in color, 
whereas the wood-worker must use what comes to 
hand, though he too may select carefully and place 
woods together so as to give harmony of color and 
figure. In certain kinds or grades of work, however, 
he does not have this option. 

The outside or long stiles may be done in the same 
manner as the inside or short stiles, only observe to 
take the overgraining straight down, without waving 
of the hand and tool. Now clean off the moldings. 
In graining the moldings be careful not to get any 
color on the finished parts of stiles, rails, and panels,- 
and see that the color is rubbed on even and clean. 
Take the inch mottler and place it on the molding, 
and while running it along give your hand a shake, 
just a little, which gives it a fine mottling, and assists 
you in keeping the mottling clean. The door is 
done. 

Now look over the job and see whether there are 
any little specks on it, and if so, remove same with 
the damp leather. Maple graining especially de- 


36 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


mands clean work. Clean work and _ indifferent 
graining will sometimes win out, where better graining 
and dirty work loses. Cleanliness and neatness are 
parts of good graining. . 

After doing the door we are to do the windows and 
sashes, the latter being done the same as directed for 
moldings. If there are paneled windows then do 
the panels, etc., the same as directed for the door. 
In doing subbases or washboards, as variously known, 
do the moldings the same as the door moldings, and 
when dry the color is wiped from the flat parts, while 
in the flat part of the board some contrast is made 
with mottling here and there, and which is then to be 
softened with the blender. 

“Softening down” is practised by some grainers, 
and with very good results. This consists in lightly 
rubbing over the grained surfaces with the palm of 
the hand. This must be deftly performed, and it 
will give it the smooth appearance of the natural 
_ wood finish. 

Directly over distemper graining apply a coat of 
a mixture of 2 parts of pale drying japan and 1 part 
each of raw linseed oil and turpentine. This is a 
glaze. Use a badger-hair brush to apply it with. 
This glaze coating serves to hold the graining in place, 
and upon it the varnish rests. 

For all small surfaces and fine surfaces peat 
distemper graining is advised. 

If combing is wanted in distemper graining some- 
thing must be added to the graining color in the form 


Graining in Distemper a7 


of a megilp, as it is called, or a substance that will 
enable the color to stand up after being combed. 
This is usually beeswax, which is melted and added in 
a very small quantity to warm color, which must be 
kept warm; the wax is boiled in: the water. The 
addition of a little turpentine is useful in keeping 
the wax from getting too stiff. Wall recommends 
alcohol. The combs used in oil graining may be used 
here, as they are in oil graining, on oak, ash, and all 
woods with like grain. But a soft comb will work 
better than the metal, and the pencil better than 
either. Wall speaks of making combs for water- 
color graining from a potato or turnip, as well as 
from rubber. | 

As oak may be done in water color, it may be well 
for the beginner to try it with that medium, as it is 
easily washed off, and a panel or other part can be 
done over and over again until you are quite satisfied 
with your effort. 

After you have rubbed in a panel with the water 
color, take a damp sponge and wipe out the lights 
up and down. In place of combed work take the 
stippler or your dry duster brush and go evenly up 
and down the panel, doing this rapidly with the tip 
ends of the brush. Note, in stippling always work 
from the bottom up, which gives the smoothest and 
most even work. Wipe out the flakes or other mark- 
ings with a wet leather over the right thumb, same 
as will be explained under the head of doing oak in 
oil. After these figures are dry take a camel’s hau 


38 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


brush and dip it in the graining color you are working 
with, and darken the work here and there, which 
will give greater effect to your thumb work. Use 
a shield for cutting in color or to prevent it from 
encroaching on an adjoining part, and where some 
color has got where it should not be, it may be wiped 
off with the wet sponge. Do all the panels, then the 
molding around same, then the middle upper stile, 
next the lock rail, then the bottom rail and lower 
middle stile, and finally the outer stiles. After all 
is thus done and the work is dry, you may further 
improve the appearance of the work by darkening 
here and there, as your judgment may dictate. After 
this is dry the whole may be fixed by coating it with 
a thin mixture of varnish and turpentine. Now you 
may take your flat bristle brush and dip it in the 
graining color, made a little darkcr with burnt umber, 
and draw it over the work up and down. The brush 
may be slightly twisted here and there to produce 
certain wavy effects often seen in oak. When this 
is dry the figures may be made with a fitch or camel’s 
hair pencil, dipped in water, which will soften the 
color, which, in turn, may be wiped away with a 
clean dry rag. Some use the dry duster to brush 
away the loose color, and this gives a different effect 
than when the rag is used. 

In oak there are light and dark figures, the one 
being imitated by wiping out, the other by means 
of pencil or brush. The figures in oak cross the 
grain of the wood, and they are softened on one edge 


Graining in Distemper 39 


by a rag or sometimes by means of the side of a finger. 
Overgraining runs across or with the grain of the 
wood, variously. 

To prevent the water color from drying too quickly 
recourse is had to a medium called megi!p or magilp, 
both spellings being correct. There is megilp for 
both oil and water colors. This megilp is also used 
for slightly thickening graining color so that the grain 
will stand up, as previously explained. For slowing 
water color soap seems to be the thing, together with 
a little wax. Equal parts of soap and wax may be 
melted in hot water and be added to the graining 
color in very small amounts. Practice will be the 
best teacher as to quantity to use. We do not advise 
the use of this except in the case of a learner, as it 
has disadvantages in expert work. If you practice 

where the atmosphere is not too warm the color will 
not dry so rapidly. A little glycerine is sometimes 
used to retard the drying, but it, of course, does not 
dry itself, but remains moist, hence is not to be 
recommended for permanent work. But such things 
are necessary when we comb distemper work, using 
even the steel combs, as well as rubber and leather 
combs. With the long bristle stippler we can get an 
excellent ground to work on, and then the over- 
grainer and the graining wheel, or set of disks, illus- 
trated in another part of this work, gives perfect 
effects, combined with the wet rag or leather and 
thumb, etc. The graining check roller is a great 
help in graining, though it has but a limited use, as — 


4o Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


in the heart growths; you will notice the little check 
marks on the natural wood, and see where they appear. 
A brush goes with the check roller, it being filled 
with color, thus ensuring an even distribution of the 
color. 


Chapter IV 


HOW TO GRAIN MAPLE 


A DESCRIPTION of graining maple in water color 
was given in the preceding chapter, and in this we 
will continue the subject, with additional instruc- 
tions. 

The ground color for maple is a rather pale cream, 
made from a little raw sienna or orange chrome, 
using white lead, in oil for the base. Thin with 1 
part of raw oil to 2 parts of turpentine, with a little 
drying japan. For practice work you can use the 
plain white ground. Some grainers say that a white 
ground is sufficient, as the graining color and varnish 
produces the natural yellow appearance which is 
desired; this is especially true when two coats of 
varnish are applied. As has already been pointed 
out, the varnish becomes darker with age, hence will 
give the proper color tone to the work, no matter 
how light the ground, all of which is left to the judg- 
ment of the workman. 

One argument in favor of the white ground is based 
on the fact that grainers are apt to get their ground 
too yellow, which is against the appearance of the 
work in the finish and after the varnish coat has been 
applied. 

The graining color may be made from Vandyke 

41 


42 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


brown alone or with the addition of burnt sienna. 
Some grainers prefer burnt umber with a little raw 
sienna. Others use Vandyke brown alone. Wall 
gives as his formula’crimson lake and drop black 
with raw sienna, or raw sienna and raw or burnt 
umber, the overgraining to be done with thin burnt 
sienna. 

However, for practice work, the plain Vandyke 
brown will do very well; to get the right color with 
two or more pigments is difficult, with the learner 
at least, and he may well postpone the matter until 
he is more proficient. Then, too, samples of maple 
differ in color tone, as there are different kinds of 
maple. A cool effect in graining can be had best with 
Vandyke brown, of course, while a warmer effect 
would require the sienna. It is for this reason, too, 
that the ground color should not be too yellow, for 
if we are to get a cool effect, then the ground must be 
rather on the gray order. But the eyes or little 
knots, and the fine overgrain, are done in a slightly 
red color or cast. | 

The tools required are a brush to apply and rub in 
the color, a mottler of hog bristles, about 3 inches 
wide, and one 1 inch wide, the former having thick 
hair or bristles, and the latter a thin brush. The 
mottler is a very important brush in water-color 
maple graining, but it must be used right. This 
tool removes parts of the color and leaves the rest 
in a mottled condition, full of faint shadows. ‘Then 
you will need a sable hair overgrainer, 2 inches wide, — 


How to Grain Maple 43 


a badger hair blender, a sable pencil brush, a maple 
eye former and shader, and a clean piece of wash 
leather, also a bit of soft sponge. A vessel with 
clean water must also be provided. 

Another way for making the mottles or cloud effects 
seen in curly maple is by taking a wash leather and 
wringing it out of water, roll it along the rubbed-in 


= == < 
=== =, | va 
—_——— SS } Y: — B 
= as HN © — — = 
See || I" = 
S| = 
| es 


aS 
—= 


Fig. 1—The mottler. adger blender. 


ground, the result of which will be seen in mottles. 
Or a wet rag folded up will do it. Cross-blend this 
at once with the badger blender. This mottling 
should be done carefully, as the eyes are to go into it, 
and the lights of the eyes and their shadows are 
influenced by the number and position of the mottles. 
As to the eyes, in the previous chapter was given a 
method of making a little device for printing in the 


44 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


eyes, or a Stick with rag wrapped about it, but there is 
another tool for the purpose that some prefer to the 
other, and which, indeed, may be said to supersede 
the other, namely, a camel’s hair pencil with its 
middle hairs cut out, leaving a rim of short hairs on 
the outer edge, which when dipped in color may be 
used as the stick device, by dipping in the color and 
imprinting it on the work. A cruder way, often 
employed by amateurs without any instruction, is to 
press the tip of a finger on to the wet groundwork. 
Others again have used a hair pencil and formed the 
little round eyes. The centers of these are in all 
cases wiped out in order to show a bright light. A 
pointed piece of soft pine, with a bit of rag or chamois 
leather, will doit. The small lights seen on the outer 
sides of the eye are also to be made by wiping out the 
color. The work, as indeed all the work connected 
with a good job of maple graining, more particularly 
the bird’s-eye maple, requires time and patient labor, 
without which the work will not be good. 

Now the eyes and lights must, if possible, be done 
while the color on the surface remains wet, and this 
sometimes is rather difficult. When the work does 
get dry before you are done, simply wet it all over, 
using a clean large mottler. Here there is danger of 
disturbing the ground color unless it has been well 
bound with the vinegar-water fluid, and to yates has 
been added a trifle of sugar. 

The overgraining is done while the work is still 
wet, being blended softly outward. These fine 


How to Grain Maple 45 


irregular markings are put in with a pencil dipped in 
color, which is burnt sienna, and they are drawn 
around the eyes or little knots in an irregular manner, 
as may be seen in a piece of real wood. The middle 
heart grain is penciled from top to bottom of the 
panel, saying the panel is a vertical one; then the 
sides are done with the sable overgrainer, following 
the lines made by the pencil around the eyes, finally 
and gradually working into straight lines. Then 
little touches of sienna are put under the knots, and 
softened downward. In all this work be careful not 
to get any part too pronounced, but keep all in a 
soft and quiet harmony, just as you will find it in 
natural wood. 

The crayon is found useful in distemper maple 
graining, for overgraining bird’s-eye work, but they 
do not make as soft a job as pencil and color unless 
very nicely softened, for they are apt otherwise to 
produce hard lines. ‘They should be of a burnt sienna 
color, and those with a wood casing, like ordinary 
lead pencils, are best, if you can get them. Wall 
says that they are of most use in making dark and 
heart veins in oak, the quartered variety, and button- 
wood or sycamore. More will be said about graining 
crayons in another place. 

After the laying in of the groundwork, the next 
step is the mottling, about which we have already 
spoken. The mottles may be produced in various 
ways. To do this work take the large mottler and 
dip it in water, remove its surplus water with the 


46 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


sponge, and then dab the brush on the work, by 
which parts of the water color will be removed, leav- 
ing the desired effect. This is called straight mot- 
tlng. Double mottling effect is accomplished by 
holding the mottler at an inclination, first down one 
side, then down the other side. Then it is softly 
blended. Such mottling as this is useful on base- 
boards, frames, etc., where other figuring is not re- 
quired, it serving as combed work serves in oil grain- 
ing on such surfaces. A broken mottle is useful for 
making a variation in mass work. It will be ob- 
served that part of the ground color is not mottled. 
The edge must not be too regular, and must be 
blended into the dark color. This may be done in 
various ways, right and left, horizontal or inclined, 
regular or irregular, or coarse and fine. It is rather 
difficult, and should not be tried until the other three 
are done. 

The handling of the badger blender is important, 
as with it you get a softened effect that is impossible 
to get without it; but one must do this very carefully, 
gently blending crosswise, then even more lightly up 
and down, so making the whole uniformly blended. 
This must, of course, be done on the wet color. If 
the color is partly dry, the blending will result in a 
patchy effect. When using the large mottler you 
should reverse the edge each time it is dampened, 
thereby breaking it in equally. Hold it rather 
upright, yet not at right angles with the panel. 

It will be found difficult to get over the panel with 


How to Grain Maple 47 


mottler and blender before the color becomes more 
or less dry, and hiding the joints in mottling. For 
the beginner it is advised that only a part of a panel 
be mottled at a time, say the upper fourth of it, or 
if practising on a board, take, say, 10 inches of it. 
The trouble with doing a larger surface is in the fact 
that the light edges of the mottles dry very quickly, 
owing to having so little wet color, hence if you take 
a small space, seeing that you are simply practising, 
you will have it easier and get a better effect. When 
you become more expert you will have no such 
difficulty. Or take the panel down one side, having 
three vertical rows of mottles, and take down one 
side at a time, or, say, one-third way down at a 
time. In these cases the mottler should overlap 
the contiguous mottles, and whenever an _ edge 
shows signs of drying, pass the wet mottler lightly 
over it. 

Following the mottling comes the forming of the 
eyes. This we have described, but take occasion 
here to add another plan for making those little 
objects. There is no uniform method of doing grain- 
ing, as each expert has adopted what to him seems 
to be the best way, and for him it is undoubtedly the 
most convenient way. But the beginner has no way, 
which gives him the choice of selection and the adop- 
tion of what occurs to him to be a good way. So 
that several ways are here given. We have spoken 
of making eyes with the rounded stick, a small skewer 
doing nicely, around which a bit of rag is folded; 


48 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


another way was to take a small camel’s hair pencil, 
cut off its hairs so that only about 1/4 inch is left, and 
in the center burn a hole with a hot wire, and so on. 
Still another plan is to take a small piece of sponge, 
say 3/4 inch square, and select an opening in it that is 
about 3/16 inch wide, and with scissors cut away 
the part surrounding the hole on the outer side; this 
should be done so as to leave the shape slightly oval 
by holding the scissors at a slight angle. Fill this 
with the sienna color, and place it between the thumb 
and index-finger, allowing it to merely touch the 
work. By. having this tool full of color it may be 
sufficient to do a panel without recharging by squeez- 
ing the sponge when its marks become light. Press 
it very lightly against the work at first, increasing the 
pressure as the color grows fainter. 

I have spoken of doing the baseboards, frames, 
etc., with the mottler. You may also overgrain such 
parts, using the large overgrainer, using a little 
darker color than the groundwork. The hair of the 
overgrainer may be slightly separated with the fingers 
or by means of a coarse hair comb. In this case you 
do not have to mottle the work; it is a variation that 
may be used in different rooms, but not in the same 
room. 

Mention has been made of using the pencil for 
making veins, or pencil overgrainer; but the difficulty 
with such tools is the irregular work they make, owing 
to the irregular flow of the color. A crayon would, of 
course, make regular lines. It is a matter of expe- 


How to Grain Maple 49 


rience vs. inexperience, and the only thing to do is 
to practice until perfect. 

Two illustrations are here given for practice work 
in penciling, and it may be done either in water color, 
on a panel, or with a crayon on a blackboard. The 
object is to acquire facility in making these for- 
mations. Or you can dot it with white chalk on dark 
paper, or with a black lead pencil on white paper. 


Fig. 4. 


In doing Fig. 3 you may start at the middle and 
curve around and around, until all but the direct 
up-and-down lines are reached, when they may be 
done by taking one side at a time. Then you may 
form the pencil designs in many different ways, thus 
perfecting yourself in this particular line of the art. 
Starting-points are made in different places, and one 
or two such, according to the size of the panel. 
Figure 4 illustrates the general run of veining in the 


50 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


middle of the panel above and below the starting- 
points. It is an irregular circular veining, open in 
the center, and gradually diminishing in curves as 
the sides of the panel are approached. You will 
find this work very interesting and useful. 

In pencil work sometimes the line is taken nght 
up to an eye and broken off there, to be resumed on 
the opposite side, or it may be run around the eye. 


Concluding our remarks on maple graining, we will 
add that there are several kinds of maple that is 
imitated by graining, such as curly maple, bird’s-eye 
maple, and silver maple. Of these, silver maple 
alone differs in the character of its required ground 
for the graining, and in another place this will be 
explained. Upon the whole, however, not much 
variety can be had with maple in ground or color. 
In a mass of work a little may be made by differently 
tinted grounds, or the graining color may be made 
slightly darker, redder, or blacker in parts. One 
good effect is had by graining with drop black, on 
which varnish gives a fine pale green tint, suitable 
for certain decoration schemes. Raw sienna and 
black also are good, but Vandyke brown is the best 
of any. 


me me Laer 
Z pee ‘“t) 


Plain Red Oak. 


Chapter V 


THE IMITATION OF OAK WOODS 


Oak is the most difficult of all the woods that we 
try to imitate with color and craftsmanship, and an 
artist indeed is he who can match nature in her own 
marvelously beautiful work of figuring the trees she 
grows. ‘True, if we take some of the plain straight- 
grained oak, it is not hard to make a very clever 
imitation, both as to figuring and color. But when 
we come to the heart growths and flakes we have a 
task fit for an artist. However, we have had and 
still have grainers who can and do execute most 
perfect work, true to nature in every way. It is 
from these expert workmen that we obtain our 
instructions when we desire to become equally suc- 
cessful in mastering the art of wood imitation. 

The beginner is usually advised to take a board 
of about 2 feet in length to practice on, but it is my 
judgment that better progress will be made by taking 
a door, which is an object that will be met with in 
regular practice once the trade has been mastered, 
besides which it affords the beginner the inspiration 
that comes from doing a real work, and the panels, 
stiles, and rails require treatment that is common to 
almost any work you will meet with when you become 
a grainer. | 

51 


52 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


It is worth while to master graining oak, for this 
is the most popular of all the woods, and the most 
generally used in house fitting and in furniture. 
There have been some beautiful jobs of oak done, and 
these have been transferred to paper by means of the 
camera, after which the engraver and color printer 
have given it to us in faithful line and coloring. 
But do not tie to such specimens when you start to 
learn graining. They will, of course, appeal to you, 
and they are so handy to copy from, but get the real 
wood, in its various forms of plain, flaked, quartered, 
or other form, and study it and copy from it. You 
will be original, and not an imitator of an imitation. 
This is the advice given by almost every expert grainer, 
and even when one has an apprentice he tells him not 
to copy his master, but to get a style of his own. 
The raw wood will, in some cases at least, show more 
clearly its markings if a coat of oil is given it, though 
you should not apply a stain. It is to be said on this 
point that stain never improves a wood, as it des- 
troys its natural beauty of color and form. The 
coloring of oak in particular has been carried to excess 
in the craze for strange effects. There is hardly a 
color under the sun that has not been applied to oak 
and the finish called by some fancy name. It is all 
wrong. Sometimes a little stain is necessary to bring 
up an unevenly colored wood, but such wood is not 
of the best quality, or it would not require any such 
help. 

What has been said in a previous chapter about 


The Imitation of Oak Woods Ba 


having the ground smooth and level will apply to oak 
graining, and to all forms of graining, so that we need 
not mention it again. — 

As this is assumed to be a job in light oak, the 
ground will have to be quite light also, as well as 
the graining color. In another chapter formulas are 
given for making both grounds and colors for the 
various woods treated in this work. This saves 
repetition, and will prove more useful than the old 
method of giving such information with each wood 
treated. The English grainer delights in a much 
darker oak than we do, though in filling and staining 
oak we do finish in some near-black stains, but this 
in deference to popular demand. Personally I prefer 
the dark grained effect, as when done with umber, 
instead of with umber and raw sienna. Raw umber 
is usually preferred by the British workman, though 
he will also use the burnt variety. He also adds an 
excess of driers to his oil graining color, to take the 
place of a megilp. This results in rapid drying, and 
if the temperature is high the color will dry entirely 
too quickly in some cases. Umber is itself a strong 
drier, hence the excess of japan would seem to be 
needless. Some grainers use boiled oil, in which case 
there will be no need of japan at all, where umber is 
used. Sienna is a pigment that requires assistance 
in drying, as also does Vandyke brown and black, 
drop- or lamp-. 

Before beginning to rub in, a word or two about 
the rubbing part. Keep your brush full of color; 


54 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


dip the brush deep into the color, so that the fresh color 
may continually get up into the butt of the brush, 
otherwise the color there will dry and the brush will 
become stiff and inefficient. The beginner invariably 
uses a dry brush, not because he wishes to, but he 
doesn’t know any better. He is afraid of getting 
too much color on the work, and does not know how 
to rub it out. Also, don’t use a stubby brush for 
rubbing in with; it is not necessary to have short, 
stiff bristles, for it isn’t necessary to rub the color so 
much. Have it properly thin, and spread it thin, 
using mostly the side of the brush, and never the tips 
of the bristles. When the color is too heavy you 
have to rub hard to spread it, and that is, of course, 
a mistake, as you will learn through experience. 

Lay the color off in the direction of the grain. To 
remove any objectionable brush marks use the 
badger blender. Stipple and blend both with this 
brush. 

It will be observed that a panel of oak will have 
coarse lines on one side, and that these gradually 
become finer as they approach the opposite side. To 
make these growths use a 3-inch leather coarse comb 
to begin with, and follow with steel combs of requisite 
fineness to about the middle of the panel, or a little 
beyond, according to the character of the wood sam- 
ple you are imitating. The side opposite to the 
coarse grain may be done with the rubbing-in brush, 
in some cases, by drawing the side of the brush down- 
ward. Over these lines or grains run a steel comb 


The Imitation of Oak Woods 55 


in a wavy manner, to produce the pores; use combs 
of sizes corresponding to the grain. The panels in 
the door shown do not have this form of grain work, 
but can have without rendering the effect any less 
desirable. It all depends on the character of the 
wood. Whatever sample panel you have for study 
and practice, that imitate as faithfully as you can. 
Good combing is a very important part of the work, 
and should be done carefully, taking pains to make 
the growths even and natural. On top of this comb- 
ing the figures are made. With a dry rag held tight 
over the right thumb-nail and with the loose end 
thereof held in the left hand proceed to wipe out the 
heart growth; some call it the sap. This will be 
found the most difficult part of the job, and it will 
take many a day’s practice to become expert at it; 
nevertheless, the best grainers have had to do the same 
thing, for they were not born artists. 

This graining rag is used in several folds, and some- 
times, in place of the thumb, a piece of bone is used, 
it being flat and about the width of the thumb-nail, 
which it is to replace, the left hand keeping the loose 
end of the rag away from the work. Begin at the 
top of the panel, and work down to the bottom; also 
begin with the coarse part of the figuring at the right- 
hand side, and form the smaller figures as you get 
to the middle. The illustration shows this work 
very clearly. 

Note that the heart growth is not rounded, as is 
the case with some woods, and this must be guarded 


56 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


against, making the oak hearts with a serrated or 
saw-tooth formation. The lock rail of the door is 
usually the most embellished with the sap or heart 
growth, though a moderate amount of it may also be 
placed on the other rails, using judgment in this. 
While the panels are usually done with the flake 
growths, and the lock rail with the heart, yet both 
may be done with the heart growth and give a very 
attractive effect. It is simply a matter of choice. 


The wood worker in constructing a door from oak 
would likely place the choice figured parts in the 
panels, regarding the rest of the structure as a mere 
frame. But the lock rail always looks better for 
being well decorated with fine figured work. If the 
top and bottom rails are given any growth work, 
very little will be done to the top one, and more, but 
still a moderate, amount to the bottom. Where the 
job is not so exacting as to artistic effects it is custom- 


The Imitation of Oak Woods Cy, 


ary to simply comb all rails but the lock rail, and 
this can be done quickly and make a very nice job. 
First draw the coarse steel comb in a straight way, 
and over it run a finer comb in a wavy manner. 

Note, when using the graining combs frequently 
wipe them off with a dry clean rag. 

Another effect often made with the combs is had 
by placing a piece of cheese-cloth over them, changing 


the cloth by drawing it with the left hand as you 
work; this gives a softer grain effect than where the 
plain combs are used. It is particularly good next 
to a wiped-out part, where the clear-cut comb marks 
would be too harsh. It produces a more woody 
appearance. 

Before combing a rail hold the straight-edge on 
the line separating the rail and stile, and wipe off 


58 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


the surplus color; this is better than combing and — 
then wiping off. 

After doing the wiping-out work it only remains to 
do the overgraining. Overshading is also a feature 
on this part of the work. The purpose of both is to 
furnish a natural variety of shade and light, and 
should not be overdone. The color for the purpose 
must be mixed specially, using distemper color, with 


Fig, 7; 


burnt umber as the pigment. Lines are put in with 
the bristle liner and then blended with the badger 
brush. This work requires care, as it is liable to” 
soften up the undercoating of stippling, which is 
usually done. 

I have usually laid a glaze of the graining color 
over the work when done and dry, for this takes 


The Imitation of Oak Woods 59 


off the raw mechanical look of the job, and also 
makes it more uniform of texture and color. Wall 
advises a thin wash of the overgraining color over 


Fig. 8. 


the heart grain, saying it gives it a more woody 
effect, but we may go farther and do it all over, thus: 


60 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


In running the overgrainer the hairs will naturally 
separate, and, if it does not, then separate them with 
a coarse comb, or with the finger of the hand that 
handles the brush. Fill the brush with a weak color 
and draw it the way of the natural grain of the wood. 
The overgraining should be lighter where the figures 
have been made. Then, before the work is dry, 
draw the overgrainer lightly and with a wavy motion 
across the grain. 

For the heart work on the lock rail we shall need 
a few little knots, and these may be put in with the 
sponge, dabbing at the center of the heart growth, 
after which manage with the badger to make dark and 
light parts, with the dark over the knots, and the 
rest may be blended softly away. Knots and other 
parts requiring it may be touched up with the sable 
pencil and flat fitch, in company with the overgrainer. 
Keep the work softened as you proceed, and see that 
the overgraining and other surface work is blended 
together to look solid. As to the knot, so often seen 
in the heart wood, and the joy of the ambitious 
grainer, as it is the despair of the amateur, it should 
have two parts of its shade wiped away, using a wet 
leather over the thumb. Soften it up with the 
badger blender. 

Vandyke brown is a useful color for glazing with, 
owing to its richness of tone and its transparency, 
but for a warm effect it is toned with burnt sienna, 
while for a cool effect a little blue-black is added. 


The Imitation of Oak Woods 61 


Quartered Oak.—While Wall gives some dozen or 
more ways for doing quarter-oak graining, there is 
only one way in general use, and that is by wiping 
out the markings with the rag over thumb, or with 
the bone, as previously described. The ground 
color is rubbed in and combed with a medium steel 
comb, over which graining a split steel comb is passed, 
thus cutting up the grain and making an imitation 
of the pores of the wood. A study of either the 
natural wood or a good sample of quarter-oak graining 
will show how the combs must be handled to produce 
the desired effect. "Then the flakes are wiped out, 
and the spaces between these markings are softened 
with a steel comb covered with rag. When this work 
is done and dry, overgraining is done, using either oil 
or water color, and, if the former, then take some of 
the graining color and ‘hin it with turpentine, and 
cover the surface with a thin glaze; this is left to 
~ become slightly set, and then a medium rubber comb 
is passed over the veins, splitting up this work with 
the split steel comb. 


Oak Graining in S pirit Color.—This form of graining 
is seldom called for, its purpose being to enable a 
job to be done in short order, as in public places 
where time cannot be allowed for the usual process 
and its time requirement of drying. The method is 
described as follows: Take some Paris whiting and 
mix it with turpentine to a stiff paste, and add to 
it some burnt sienna and burnt umber, both in oil, 


62 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


or raw sienna in place of the burnt, adding a trifle 
of drop black. ‘The whiting is the base, to hold the 
colors, and it should be stained according to the tone 
of color desired for the job, whether light, medium, or 
dark. Strain it, and thin to a working consistency 
with turpentine, binding it with a turpentine varnish. 
Add also japan drier and a very little raw linseed oil. 
Before beginning the job try some of the color. It 
should work freely, and not have too much varnish 
in it, which will be evident when it works thick. In 
this case add a little more turpentine. It is a color 
that must be worked rapidly. Comb it as soon as 
you have rubbed it in. ‘The rubbing in is done in the 
usual manner, making it as even and uniform as 
possible. Then draw it down the panel or stile with 
a flat duster, by which simple means you can get a 
variety of effects. Follow with a firm steel comb, 
which will give the broken appearance of the grain. 
The panels of a door are done first, then the stiles and 
rails, and lastly the moldings. If any color got on 
the moldings, it may be removed with a rag and some 
turpentine. The moldings are best kept to a fairly 
even color by stippling them, as they thus clean up 
both stiles and panels. 

When working the stile of a door the expert always 
starts with the two stiles between the panels, top 
and bottom; then, after doing the cross rails, he 
finishes with the two long stiles, one on each side. 
That is his regular procedure, and which one of them 
calls “‘the natural way of working.” 


The Imitation of Oak Woods 63 


Make all joints sharp and clean cut, using whatever 
may serve your purpose, though some use a wooden 
straight-edge, like a desk ruler, for instance. Or 
the shellacked sandpaper, as previously suggested; 
the sanded part prevents slipping of the paper under 
your hand. Neatness and cleanliness add 50 per 
cent. to the appearance of the job. 

The quantity of varnish to use in this process, for 
mixing with the turpentine, is not over one-fourth, 
or 1 quart of varnish to 3 quarts of turpentine. The 
varnish should be rather quick drying, as the work is 
generally finished in a day. Mix the paste color 
with the varnish, then add the turpentine, mixing 
the mass well together. 

The work of graining in spirit color is the same 
as with oil or water color; or perhaps we may say 
it is more like overgraining in water color, but the 
veining is different from oil-color work. You do 
not wipe out the color with the thumb and rag, but 
use a veining fitch, while the lights are made by 
means of soda-water, stained a little with color, which 
enables the grainer to follow the brush markings as 
they are made. All the marks that are made. by 
wiping out with a rag in the oil process may be done 
in this quick process with a veining fitch, a brush 
with a thin edge. Use the soda-water very sparingly, 
so that it will not run down the work. After you 
have thus made the lights, the work may be washed 
down with clear water, followed by drying with a 
chamois or leather. 


64 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


Sometimes, in place of soda-water, turpentine is 
used for marking the lights, and when this is done 
the practice is to make a few veins or marks with 
this solvent; then remove the turpentine by means 
of a pad of flannel; this gives a softer effect than 
where soda-water is used. The turpentine must be 
stained a little, as with soda-water, and for the same 
reason. 

The overgraining being done with water color, 
there may be difficulty in getting it to stay on the 
work, in which case treat the surface as indicated in 
a previous part of this work to prevent cissing. 
Then the shading and other work may be put in, and 
in a little while the work is ready for varnishing. 

To conclude, don’t rub in more of the job at a time 
than you can do before it dries. The veining tool 
is a hog-hair fitch brush about 1/2 inch wide, with 
which both veins and flakes, etc., may be formed; 
not at first very well, but with time and practice 
excellent effects. Dip the tool in the soda-water or 
turpentine, as the case may be, and hold it lightly 
between thumb and forefinger, and do not press too 
hard, as that will put on too much color; hold the 
tool rather flat. 


Pollard Oak.—This wood is remarkable for the 
figure of its grain, which consists of a series of con- 
centric formations or’ knots, intermingled with plain 
growths of grain, as seen in ordinary oaks, the pen- 
cilings or lines and twists or curls presenting a very 


The Imitation of Oak Woods 65 


unusual but handsome appearance that is very sure 
to inspire in the novice a desire to imitate its appar- 
ently copied features. While the work is mostly 
done in oil, yet water-color work is very effective and 
often done by experts. The curious: markings of 
this wood are caused by dwarfing the tree, when it 
is young, by lopping off its branches at intervals of 
a few years. ‘This causes the growth to be diverted 
from a straight course to one that is pursued around 
the obstructions offered by the dehorned parts, as 
we may say. The wood is useful for veneering, and 
as such belongs to the same class as burl walnut, etc. 

A rather dark graining color is required, one that 
is formed from raw sienna for the base, with burnt 
umber and drop black, or Vandyke brown as the 
darkening colors. The ground is a strong, bright 
buff. The tools consist of a rubbing-in brush, a 
heavy mottler, large sash tool, badger blender, a 
piece of old open-pored sponge, chamois or wash- 
leather, medium and small round fitches, sable pencil, 
and sable overgrainer in tubes. This is for distemper 
graining. For oil graining we do not require all these 
tools, but simply such as are used in ordinary oak in 
oil. 

While pollard oak is done in either water or oil 
colors, another method is to do the foundation in oil 
color, and finishing in water color, which gives 
excellent results. 

It is difficult to give a word-picture of this wood, 
and illustrations are hardly more satisfactory, so that 


66 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


it is advised that the beginner get sample veneers of 
it, a variety to show the many different forms and 
groupings as they appear in the natural wood. The 
color used is dark, as stated, and the small knots and 
the dots that show in their centers may be made 
from the graining color to which is added some burnt 
umber, darkened a little with Vandyke brown, and 
this also is applied in patches with the sash tool, here 
and there, after which the markings are made by 
means of a rag to wipe out here and there, forming the 
clusters that contain the little knots. There are also 
heart grains and other figurings seen in ordinary 
quartered oak. The foregoing refers to work in oil. 

There are several methods of producing pollard oak 
graining. Take a rich, warm buff ground, and rub 
it in with burnt sienna, in distemper. Dab your 
sponge in some Vandyke brown, thinned with water, — 
etc., and with it form the dark masses of knots. The 
sponge dabs make fair knots, but much more than 
this is necessary to make the knots and lights correct. 
The mottler is then worked with the knot growths 
in one direction only. Hold the brush at right angles 
with the work, and run it from group to group of 
knots. The graining is done around the knots with 
a round fitch, following the curves made by the mot- 
tler. The plain parts may be mottled. After you 
have done all this, and the work is dry, wet it with 
the water and vinegar thinners, and overgrain it. 
Use the small overgrainer, filled with the Vandyke 
graining color, and separate the bristles with a comb. 


The Imitaticn of Oak Woods 67 


Soften the grain to a dark edge, then form the mark- 
ings which cross the grain with the pencil dipped in 
the dark color made from Vandyke or black and 
Vandyke. When all is done and dry, a thin coat of 
varnish and turpentine is applied, after which a 
glaze coat of Vandyke is given. As the work is done 
in water color, it may be wetted at any time and the 
true color thus be shown as it will be when varnished, 
So that any parts that do not seem dark enough may 
be darkened, and light parts be toned properly. 

The work in oil is similar. The graining color is 
made from burnt umber, raw sienna, and Vandyke. 
Some add drop black, but the Vandyke would appear 
to be quite dark enough. These colors are to be 
kept separate, and thinned as required for use, with 
turpentine, the colors themselves being ground in oil. 
A thin coat of burnt sienna is applied to the surface 
of the work, using a large sash tool or a sponge. 
Before this is dry dapple it over in various directions 
with the colors mentioned above, applying the color 
most liberally where the masses of knot growths are 
to appear. Use a well-worn mottler for this work, 
and if it has a thin, uneven row of hairs, so much the 
better. Dip it first in one color, then in another. 
The knots are formed by dipping the brush in the 
burnt umber, which must be thin, using turpentine, 
also add some Vandyke brown in places. It is here 
that drop-black is used. Later on, when you become 
more proficient, you can try the black. Then the 
lights must be taken out by means of a small fitch, 


68 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


dipped in turpentine, but not having too much of the 
liquid on your fitch. Let this work set, then give 
it a thin glaze of burnt umber, working it in wavy 
or curly-manner. While the color is thinned with 
turpentine, see that it has also enough oil in it to 
bind the color and render it easy to work. Use the 
blender often. Some use a cork in making the knots 
on the dark parts of the knots, twisting it with the 
finger and thumb so as to form the light and shade. 
Take the heart and sap out with a fitch as for light 
oak; there is very little of the ordinary oak figure, 
however, in pollard oak. 

A flat graining brush, well filled with thin Vandyke 
or drop-black, will give the top grain in a curly form. 
Then glaze the work with Vandyke. The knots and 
dark parts may be done with the camel’s-hair pencil. 
The glazing may be done with either oil or water 
color; if with oil, then the lights may be wiped out 
with a rag. The glaze is formed from Vandyke with 
a little burnt sienna or black, according to the tones 
required, warm or cool. 


Mahogany. 


American Walnut. 


Chapter VI 


THE IMITATION OF MAHOGANY WOOD 


Wuat kind of mahogany are we toimitate? There 
are several varieties, coming from different parts 
of the earth, and both color and figure may be differ- 
ent in each kind. ‘That from the West Indies, for 
example, is a hard wood and very dark in color, the 
hardest and darkest of all mahoganies. It has a good 
figure, but the logs are small and present no great 
surface figuring. Mexican mahogany is not as hard 
or dense as the West Indian, but it has a firmer grain 
and a more even texture. It is harder and more 
dense than the African mahogany. When fresh 
from the saw its color is creamy, but it soon darkens 
on exposure to the air. As to figuring, the wood 
varies much from the character of the soil in which it 
grows, also as to elevation and other factors. 

Colors of the mahoganies run from a straw color 
to light red, brick color, and deep red or reddish 
brown, with a tinge of yellow. African mahogany 
has a very attractive figure; in addition to its striped 
effects it has also a mottled and curly figure, and one 
especially fine, called the fiddle-back, for that is 
what the figure looks like. 

The illustrations here shown give the general 
features of both African and Mexican mahoganies, 

69 


70 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


and will be found useful when trying to do mahogany 
graining. Figure 9 shows African striped wood, and 
Fig. 10 a typical Mexican striped wood. You will 


Fig. 9.—African striped mahogany. 


note some difference of grain. Figure 11 shows 
African broken stripe and mottle, while Fig. 12 


Fig. 10.—Typical Mexican mahogany. — 


gives the mottle and fiddle-back figures of the same 
wood 


The Imitaticn cf Mahogany Wocd ay 


In addition, there is the crotch or feather figure, 
which is almost always seen in mahogany veneered 


Fig. 12.—African mottle and fiddle-back. 


work of former days. Most beginners like to do 
crotch work because, as they think, it is so easily 


72 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


done. But what should interest you most at the 
start is getting the right color. If you examine a 


Fig. 13.—Mahogany feathered. 


sample of finished mahogany you will perceive that 
it has a ground of a bright, warm, reddish tone, sug- 


The Imitation of Mahogany Wood ie 


gesting that the graining ground must be such as will 
tend to give a suitable color tone to the finish. The 
grainers do not have any standard formula for making 
the ground, some using white lead for the base, while 
others may prefer yellow ochre, and I think ochre 
the best, for what you want is the reddish-yellow 
tone, though a little white lead might do no harm, 
even though it can easily be dispensed with. It has 
a better body than ochre. Some take equal parts of 
French yellow ochre and orange chrome yellow, with 
a little Venetian red. This is then to be thinned with 
a little raw oil and mostly with turpentine, with 
driers also. This will give a rather flat ground, yet 
not dead, for the oil colors, with the little oil added, 
prevent that. Too much oil is avoided on account 
of the work having to be varnished when done, and 
cracking might follow if the ground was too oily. 
For a bright ground take white lead and color it with 
Venetian red and a little orange chrome yellow. A 
magazine writer says that the ground for mahogany 
should be about the same as for medium oak, “with 
a little more lead and a lot more umber.”” Some of 
us would think this hardly the best ground, but, as 
we have already stated, workmen differ in their 
practices, as well they should, for that means breaking 
away from the mere copyist to independent workman- 
ship. Then it is to be remembered that mahogany 
finish may be done in various colors and with different 
figures. If we had some old mahogany to match we 
should find that it was very dark, due to age, and in 


74 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


trying to match it we should have to make both 
ground and graining color darker than usual. ‘The 
ground ordinarily employed may be said to be a rich 
yellowish brown. 

The ground matter settled, the color laid and made 
smooth, the next step is to stipple it with water color, 
using distemper Vandyke brown, as we are doing 
this job in oil colors. Thin some Vandyke with the 
water and vinegar medium, and with the large 
stippler flog the groundwork after having coated it 
over evenly with the water color. This will give the 
work the appearance of the natural wood, which shows 
the dark small grains under and with the figures. 
Don’t let the color get dry before you are done stip- 
pling it. Always stipple from the bottom upward, 
using the flat of the brush for coarse grains, or the 
tips for a finer growth, while still finer may be made 
with the small stippler, as on moldings and other 
small parts. This stippling is done on walnut also, 
in the same manner, as will be described under the 
proper head. If doing a door, and this is the best 
object to practice on, do the panels first, as directed 
for oak. By using the straight-edge and wiping off 
surplus color you can keep the work neat and make a 
better ground for the graining. Now that the 
stippling is done, we will commence graining. The 
graining color may be made from burnt sienna, 
darkened with Vandyke brown and enlivened with 
rose lake. You will have to experiment a little in 
order to get the right shade of color, but that is part 


The Imitation of Mahogany Wood 75 


of your graining lesson. Mahogany’s natural color, 
after exposure and before being finished with stain or 
varnish, is rather light, and not at all what we see in 
an old piece of mahogany furniture, for instance. 
However, we prefer the rich dark red tone rather than 
the pale brown, and even when we finish cherry we 
like to give it a much deeper tone than it has in the 
natural finish. For a mahogany graining effect some 
take equal parts of the three colors mentioned, but 
you may vary these proportions as you please. 

Thin the color with half as much turpentine as 
raw linseed oil, adding also some driers. Some use 
boiled oil in graining color. It gives a color with 
rather more body, stands up better than raw oil 
color, and dries quicker. Strain the color through 
cheese-cloth. Brush this thin graining color over 
the surface you are about to grain, using a rather 
soft brush, and get it on very even and solid. Then 
let the work stand a little while, so that the color will 
set just a little, and prepare some color to form the 
dark veins. Take some of the graining color and 
thicken it a little with Vandyke and rose pink. Take 
a small fitch and dip it into the color and form the 
veins. This done, take the rubbing-in brush, having 
freed it from all color, and draw it in the direction 
of the veins, and then across them, very lightly. 
Then blend lightly with the badger blender. This 
will make the work quite smooth. You will note 
that one edge of the vein is darker than its other 
edge, hence use the brush or tool to make this effect. 


76 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


You will observe in the illustrations of mahogany 
given herewith that the wood is full of shades and 
lights, which must be formed in the graining. Take 
the small fitch and with color place such streaks as 
will, when blended out, show the shades, and with a 
brush the lights may be made by brushing out some 
color. Always use the blender after such operations, 
so that the work will appear solid and natural. 
After the work is done and dry, overgraining may 
be done. This may be done with the graining color, 
made thinner, using it as a glaze. My preference is 
for rose lake, instead of graining color, for this glazing; 
for a brighter effect use crimson lake. There are 
three colors that appear most prominently in ma- 
hogany graining, namely, burnt sienna and Vandyke 
brown, and the rose lake or rose pink. ‘That is, a 
red, a dark that is nearly black, and the wine color. 
Get these three colors in mind and they will serve 
you when mixing and using the graining color. 
Feathered mahogany is done in water colors. It is 
rather difficult to describe the process, but we shall 
try to doit. Taking the same ground as for ordinary 
mahogany, rub the water color in quickly, as it soon 
sets, and then with a large flat fitch put in the dark 
parts of the center, from which the feathers spring 
toward the sides. Begin at the bottom and use the 
brush to form a curve, or the feather. Do this right 
and left, to the top. The bottom figures will be 
darker than the top ones, which is the natural effect, 
the brush gradually losing color, and so the feathers 


The Imitation of Mahogany Wood ae 


become more and more less dark. Also form the 
feathers somewhat smaller as you go upward. If 
you have a sample of feathered mahogany, as on a 
veneered panel of a sideboard or bureau, that will be 
a good lesson figure. Then the hog-hair mottler is 
used to cut out the lights seen in the feathers, while 
the lights which radiate from the center are put in 
with a camel’s-hair mottler. Graining tools, brushes 
in particular, need to be washed out in clear water 
_ occasionally to free them of surplus color. Now wet 
the work by taking a mottler, dipped in water, and 
drawing it down over the panel, after which lights 
and shades may be modified or touched up so as to 
give better contrasts. Also some dark touches may 
be made with the sable pencil. 

Another way to do the feather work is by applying 
Vandyke brown to the center of the panel, and using 
a sponge for removing color here and there. After 
which work in the feathered work as already indicated 
and blend the edges of the darker veins. 

Whenever the water color on the work becomes 
dry, run a wet overgrainer over it. Keep it wet 
until you are done. 

Now the overgraining is to be done. The work is 
left to dry in the meantime. Use the thin hog-hair 
brush to form the grain that conforms to the feathered 
work, giving it a slightly twisted or wavy motion, 
starting from one side and drawing the brush across 
the center and down the opposite side. After each 
such movement with the brush softly blend the work 


78 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


upward. When this is done and the color dry, apply 
a thin coat of varnish to hold the water color, and 
when that is dry, glaze it with oil color, using the oil 
graining color with some rose lake or crimson lake. 
This oil color must not be oily, but be thinned with 
turpentine. Now you may touch up any parts where 
they do not seem as dark as desired, and in any other 
way try to improve the figures. 

If you use oil color, and wish merely to do a plain 
job, it is a simple matter to rub in the door, and with 
a brush (your rubbing-in brush will do) run it side- 
wise along the panel or other straight part of the door, 
and so form the grain. Or take a rag and wipe it 
out, forming streaks. The blender will be found 
useful here. Use a good strong color. 


Chapter VII 


HOW TO GRAIN WALNUT WOOD 


THERE are several distinct kinds of walnut, such 
as the black or American, the only specimens of 
which are to be found growing in our own country; 
and the Italian walnut, which looks much like Cir- 
cassian walnut. Then there are burl walnuts, which 
give very handsome panel effects, and are to be found 
in both American and European walnut, the result 
of growths found on the sides of trees. They are 
sawn into veneers. The black walnut gives a curly 
wood, and it is usually found only in old trees, though 
a similar figuring may be and is obtained by a certain 
manner of cutting the logs into veneers. 

The ground for black walnut is something similar 
to that used for mahogany, only it is slightly darker 
by the use of umber, and less bright by the omission 
of chrome yellow. The base color is yellow ochre, 
to which is added some white lead, Venetian red, and 
burnt umber. In some kinds of walnut the chrome 
yellow is used, and some use white lead base, with 
ochre, etc. The graining color is made from burnt 
umber, darkened a little with Vandyke brown, or drop- 
black. Many use the burnt umber alone. It de- 
pends on the color you wish, whether dark or light 
colored walnut. The ground for American or black 

79 


80 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


walnut should be stippled, as indicated for mahogany. 
The stipple color may be burnt umber or some 


Fig. 14.—Burl walnut. ; 


Vandyke with it. Upon the stippling the figures may 
be put in with the fitch and overgrainer, or the oil- 


How to Grain Walnut Wood 81 


graining color may be applied in the usual manner, 
and the graining done with fitch tool and overgrainer, 
with the comb also, wiping out with a rag. Study 
the real walnut wood, and note how modest and 
unobtrusive it is. Avoid glaring displays, make no 
little knots, keep your work simple and plain, and it 
will be more pleasing and gain you more credit. 
Growths may be made on panels and lock rail, with 
a little on the stiles and other rails, but even this 
should not be overdone. Walnut is an easy and 
attractive wood to practice on, and if not too much 
is attempted the result will be satisfactory. Rub 
the color out well, and see that the joints are clean 
cut, as directed for oak. 

Walnut may be imitated with crayons. The 
ground is stippled in the usual manner, and when dry 
it is ready for the crayon. Form the heart growths 
with the crayon, and with a piece of rag gently soften 
the crayon marks. The growth lines seen on both 
sides of the heart growth may be formed with an 
overgrainer, using water color and separating the 
bristles with a comb. After which coat the work 
over with a liquid such as that used in thinning out 
oil-graining color, adding a trifle of umber to it. 
Crayons may be used also in doing oil-color graining. 
The ground is made rather flat and is rubbed in with 
oil-graining color mixed very thin. Then the growths 
are formed with the crayon. After which the sides 
are overgrained with oil color or color applied and 
combed out with the graining combs. Let it become 


82 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


dry, then glaze it over with oil color, which will be 
the finish. 

The curly and burl walnut require the same 
ground as black walnut, and also the same graining 
color. It is hardly possible to describe the figure of 
this wood, hence it is suggested that the beginner 
secure a sample veneer of both the curly and burl 
woods, and then try to imitate the designs exhibited. 
Expert workmen do these woods in water color, and 
the beginner will find it the best way, too, for he 
will be able to get more natural effects with water 
color by means of the sponge, together with the other 
graining tools, than with oil color, though this method 
also should be tried. Avoid careless work, however, 
and seek rather to perfect yourself in the art than to 
finish the lesson quickly. See that the various forms 
of the growths are made with the natural turns of 
the wood, and with proper shades and lights; finally, 
make the work to blend together so that it will have 
the solid appearance seen in the real work of nature. 
In the water-color method make the dark parts with 
a fitch dipped in Vandyke or burnt umber water 
color, and form the lights with the sponge by wiping | 
out. Then mottle it and blend together lightly. 
On the mottled work lay the grain with the over- 
grainer. When dry, apply a thin coat of varnish, 
on which when dry the overgrainer is to be passed. 

The Italian walnut is a very handsome wood and 
not very difficult to imitate. It does not have the 
regular grain seen in American or black walnut, but 


How to Grain Walnut Wood 83 


one having a slight wave effect. It should be done 
in water colors, using the same colors and ground and 
tools as given for the other walnuts. You will 
notice by the run of its growths that the sponge and 
fitch tool are important tools in its imitation. The 
mottler also is much used and the work is to be 
softly blended. When this has dried, it may be 
overgrained and softly blended. 

The English grainer will want burnt sienna, drop- 
black, Vandyke brown, and a trifle of Prussian blue, 
though he admits that the blue can be dispensed 
with. His Italian walnut will show bunches of small 
. knots, around which the growths circle, with the 
balance composed of plain and mottled work. It 
depends upon the specimen you are using for practice. 
It is to be noted that the grain is not of one uniform 
dark color, for some parts are darker than others, 
some even inclining to a warm walnut tone. These 
marks or velns must not stand out, but be made as 
though a part of the wood, as you will see in the 
natural wood; this is to be effected by means of the 
blender after making the veins properly. Then take 
the large mottler and wet the face of the work with 
the thinning liquid, after which overgrain it with the 
overgrainer dipped in dark color, Vandyke, or burnt 
.umber. Separate the overgrainer so that it will give 
more variety to the work. If any twists and small 
knots are to be put in, the work may be done with the 
pencil dipped in Vandyke brown. Blend across the 
growths thus made, which will give a pleasing softness 


84 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


to the work and give light and dark edges to the 
veins. 

If you care to add a few more touches to the work 
after the overgraining, wet it, for if attempted while 
the ground is dry there will be danger of the under- 
lying growths. Now you can coat the dry work 
with a thin varnish, and after this has dried, further 
work may be done by rubbing it over with water 
color, dark color for the knots and other dark parts, 
with burnt sienna for the lighter parts, to warm it 
up. By rolling a damp chamois over the work you 
will get a mottle effect, after which wipe out the 
bright parts across the knots. The thin coat of 
varnish size brings out the work plainer, enabling 
you to see just how it looks. Then you can improve 
as it may seem to you to need it. 

In doing a door, whatever the wood, it is not 
advised that you make the panels the distinctive 
features of the work, as some grainers choose to do, 
but while doing the panels rather more ornate than 
the rest of the work, endeavor to maintain a due 
regard for harmony between the different parts of 
the structure, no part overbalancing any other part. 
This applies to the use of color as well as of form. 
The artistic sense is offended by the sight of a street 
door exhibiting the eccentric fancies of some ambi- 
tious grainer who desires that people shall know what 
a great grainer he is. 


Chestnut. 


Chapter VIII 
IMITATION OF DIFFERENT WOODS 


IMITATION OF CHESTNUT 


Tue ground color for this wood is the same as for 
dark oak, it being compounded from white lead, 
French yellow ochre, raw Italian sienna, and burnt 
Turkey umber. The graining color is made from 
raw and burnt sienna and Vandyke brown. The 
grain and heart growth is very coarse, and the wood 
does not give a very attractive finish. If done in 
distemper color the ground should be stippled neatly, 
making the growths with a rag and bristle fitch or 
liner. Then blend them at once, before they dry, 
using the badger blender. The plain grain may be 
done with the overgrainer. Done in oil color the 
process is little different from that of water color. 
Wipe out the growths with a rag, but do not wipe 
too dry. The work is much like that on ash, using 
the combs for making the grain; the grain is coarse. 


IMITATION OF ASIII 


This wood has a straight grain, and in the heart 
growths the points are not acute as we see in chestnut 
and other woods, but are blunt. The wood is light 
in color, and hence the ground is made accordingly. 
Take white lead and tinge it with yellow ochre, then 

85 


86 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


slightly darken it with raw umber. The graining 
color is composed of raw umber, raw sienna, and a 
little Vandyke brown or drop-black. The color is 
much like that used for some kinds of oak, while the 
same tools can be used as are used for oak. Ash 
may be done in water color as well as in oil. In 
distemper work the heart growth may be done with 
the bristle fitch, the rag not being used to any great 
extent. Blend the work when done. It is usual to 
stipple the color when it has been rubbed on, using 
the large stippler; do this stippling lightly. If the 
work is rather light, the stippling will not be re- 
quired. Heart growths are sometimes made with the 
crayon, but mostly are put in with the bristle fitch. 
Use the short hair overgrainer to produce the lines 
seen on either side of the heart. This work can be 
overgrained with oil color, using very thin color. 

To do the work in oil color have a ground made 
smooth and with a semigloss. Rub in the graining 
color. Let it stand until set a little. Graining color 
in oil always works better, where combing or fine 
veins are to be made, by letting it stand until set 
just a little, for then the color will not flatten out as 
when fresh. Use the comb on those parts that are 
to be plain; place a rag on the comb. Make the 
streaks or veins with the fitch or small sash tool, 
using a dark color, black or Vandyke. Wipe out the 
heart with a rag on the thumb, as in oak graining, and 
lightly stipple the work. The grain may be made 
either by wiping out or with the fitch, or with a 


Imitation of Different Woods 87 


crayon. Dark streaks can be put in when desired by 
means of the fitch, while the work is wet. Over- 
graining improves ash, using the graining color for 
this, though it may be darkened a little with black, 
thinning with turpentine and a little japan. 

Curly or so-called Hungarian ash may be imitated 
with water or oil color. Where the wood has been 
cut into veneers the growth is very different from 
ordinary ash, being more broken and mottled. It 
is of a deeper yellow color than the other. To make 
its figures, wipe out with the rag, though this is 
a tedious process; penciling in the figures is easier 
and gives finer results, we think. In this case, after 
having rubbed in the color, mottle it with a soft 
rag, then blend it lightly with your rubbing-in brush. 
Then make the figure with the pencil brush, using a 
color a little darker than the rubbed-in color, but not 
too much so. Blend lightly. When dry it may be 
overgrained either with oil or water color. 


IMITATION OF YELLOW PINE 


The ground color for yellow pine is much the same 
as for light oak, a pale yellow, made by tinting white 
lead with medium yellow chrome. The graining 
color is made from yellow ochre, burnt and raw 
sienna, and rose pink. To get this color right it 
will be best to have a good piece of well-prepared 
yellow pine board to study from. Oil it, which will 
make color and grain more pronounced. Either oil 
or water colors may be used in the imitation of this 


88 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


wood. After having rubbed in the graining color 
the grain may be made, using a soft-hair pencil. 
The color for the grain should be darker than the 
graining color, but not too pronounced. Straight 
grain may be made with the overgrainer. Some of 
the work is done with the rubber comb. This is an 
easy wood for the beginner to work on. 

Pitch pine is a darker wood, and the ground is 
deepened with Venetian red added to the yellow pine 
ground color. Some grainers use the same ground 
as that used in light oak graining, and while good work 
may be done on such ground, yet it is better to make 
one specially adapted to pine. It is better to have 
a buff with a slight reddish tone. The graining color 
is made from raw and burnt sienna, some using a 
little burnt umber to subdue the red tone a little. 
Equal parts of the colors used in the graining color is 
the regular formula. The color is made very thin, 
and the thinners, the regular formula of turpentine, 
oil, and japan, is given a small quantity of oil. Rub 
the color in very thin. The grain is much more 
pronounced than that of yellow pine, hence the 
penciling of the growths must be done with a darker 
color. Then blend the work lightly with the rubbing- 
in brush. As most of the rubbed-in color must be 
removed in the forming of the figures before penciling, 
some grainers prefer to first do the penciling on the 
painted ground and let it dry; then the rubbing in 
may be done, also the mottling and combed work. 
Overgraining is useful on this work. 


Imitation of Different Woods 89 


IMITATION OF CYPRESS 


This wood has come into use in recent years as a 
successor to white pine, and while it is not so desirable 
a wood for a house finish, its grain being faulty in 
that it often separates from the wood of which it is 
a part, yet it possesses a very nice grain, and is well 
worth imitating with paint. The ground color is 
made with white lead colored with equal parts of 
raw and burnt sienna, with the same colors for the 
graining, with the addition of drop-black, to tone 
down the red of the siennas. The grain is a little 
similar to that of pine, and the graining of the work is 
also similar; the heart growths are wiped out and 
penciled, followed by blending gently. The rubber 
and steel combs may be used on parts of the work. 
No shading is required. 


IMITATION OF CHERRY 


The ground for this handsome wood is made from 
white lead and yellow ochre, tinged with Venetian 
red. The color is a strong buff. The graining color 
consists of raw and burnt sienna, burnt umber, and 
a little drop-black. The cherry finish usually met 
with suggests mahogany rather than the wood it 
really is, for people prefer the stained to the natural 
finish, and while the mahogany stain does make a 
very pleasing and handsome job, it is no less true that 
the wood in its natural finish is beautiful. 

Cherry may be done in either water or oil color. 


90 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


Like hard pine, cherry needs little color rubbed in, 
as the growths are done with the pencil. In oil 
color work, after the color has been rubbed in, the 
mottles are made with the fitch, using the graining or 
rubbing-in color, darkened a little with burnt umber. 
These mottles are across the wood, and after they 
have been made take the blender or rubbing-in 
brush and blend across them. Note that the mottles 
are not horizontal exactly, but more or less curved, 
though very little at the most. The penciled work 
is then done over the mottles, at right angles, but 
are to be blended in the same direction as the mottles. 
Let the color set a little before doing either the 
mottles or pencilings, but do not let it set too much. 

After the mottles have been formed you may use 
a piped overgrainer instead of the pencil, and then 
blend at once with the rubbing-in brush. 

The process with distemper color is somewhat 
different from oil-color work. First rub the surface 
with the medium that you thin the colors with, then 
rub in the graining color, very thin; at once make the 
mottles, with the fitch and some darkened color; 
the mottles may also be formed by means of the 
mottler brush, which removes some of the color, and 
then the work may be blended lightly. After this 
the growths of the wood may be put in with the fitch 
and piped overgrainer. Blend the work at once, and 
it is done. | 

Cherry always looks best when overgrained, and 
by carefully studying a sample of the real wood much 


Imitation of Different Woods QI 


more will be learned concerning its features than can 
be told in print. 


IMITATION OF CURLY BIRCH 


Birch, red and white, is made to imitate mahogany 
by staining, and whenever it is intended to look like 
another wood the curly red variety is preferred. 
Both the white and red birch look well in a natural 
finish, and many finishers think the wood is spoiled 
by staining. With these facts in mind the learner 
will want to imitate the curly red wood as it appears 
when finished natural, and not stained. For this 
purpose the ground color is somewhat the same as 
that for cherry, and the graining color is likewise as 
for cherry, except that it is not so red a cast, the 
~siennas being more subdued with burnt umber. 
Raw sienna modified with the umber will give the 
best color for imitating the natural, unstained wood. 
Rub the color in, and let the ground be a mere glaze. 
The mottles seen on the natural wood are slightly 
darker than the ground, and these may be laid in with 
the fitch, using the graining color, modified with 
burnt umber. Blend the mottles lightly across, and 
then put in the grain with the small bristle pencil, 
while the rest of the grain may be done with the comb 
or the overgrainer. Take a rag and wipe out the 
lights as they appear in the real wood, and then 
pencil in the heart growths. 

This wood may also be imitated with water colors, 


92 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


the procedure being pretty much the same as with 
oil color. In either case, oil or water color, apply a 
glaze at the end of the job. 

You will notice in the natural wood that the 
mottles are irregular in form and position, hence they 
must appear in that way in graining. 


IMITATION OF ROSEWOOD 


Red orange to black are the predominant colors 
seen in this remarkable hardwood. The ground color 
is orange red, made from orange chrome and red lead, 
with some white lead. The graining color is composed 
of Vandyke brown and drop-black, with rose pink. 
The graining color is rubbed out pretty thin, the work 
being done in distemper colors. If you have a 
sample of the real wood to work from you will see 
that the ground shows up in large areas, and that the 
grain is very dark, and yet so blended with the lighter 
color that the effect is that of solidity and uniformity. 
The sponge is good here for wiping out the light parts, 
while the dark parts may be put in by means of the 
pencil. This is then blended. As the wood some- 
times shows rather pink in places the fitching in of 
some rose pink is advised. When this has been done 
the overgrainer may be used, but not until the pre- 
vious work has become dry. Use drop-black for the 
overgraining, using it thin, and then blend with the 
badger blender. 


Imitation of Different Woods 03 


IMITATION OF BUTTERNUT 


Sometimes called white walnut, for it resembles 
black walnut a little in its growths, but it has no 


. 


Fig. 15.—Rosewood. 


mottles, and less color and character. When the 


94 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


natural wood is nicely finished, as it is in the cabinet 
shop, or stained, there is no finer effect seen in any: 
other wood. ‘The ground color is made from white 
lead, colored with raw umber and raw sienna. ‘This 
color is quite pale, as the finish must be. It may be 
done in either water or oil color. For the latter 
process mix equal parts of the colors named, and 
have the color thin, rubbing it out toa glaze. Stipple 
this lightly with the rubbing-in brush. Put in the 
lines and heart growths with the fitch or pencil, after 
which lightly blend with the rubbing-in brush. Comb 
out the finer grains and stipple. 

In distemper the graining color is rubbed in, 
leaving a mere glaze, followed at once by stipple. 
Then put in the heart growths with the fitch or with 
a crayon. The short-hair overgrainer is useful too 
for putting in the straight grain work. Some say 
that the crayon is better than the fitch. 


Chapter IX 


THE GROUND COLORS, GRAINING COLORS, 
AND THE TOOLS USED 


THE ground for imitating a wood should approach 
in effect the general color tone of the natural un- 
finished wood, and if a little lighter than this it will 
be well enough, for we can work up the darker tone 
from the lighter. Not too light, though, and not too 
dark. Experience and careful study of the natural 
woods will result in giving you the proper color the 
ground should be. 

The ground should be made as smooth as possible, 
and level also, for this will enable you to do much 
better work than otherwise could be done. It is 
well to strain the paint for the groundwork, and to 
use the best lead and pigments. A little varnish in 
the ground color is advisable, for it gives a hard and 
smooth finish. If you are not careful when sand- 
papering the ground color you may scratch it, and 
these will show up under the graining. Use old worn 
or very fine sandpaper, or fine steel wool. Little 
sandpapering will be required where the paint has 
been carefully prepared and strained, and carefully 
applied, leaving no marks. 

Select the finest pigments for making the graining 
color with; some grainers take the dry pigments and 

95 


96 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


prefer them to the best prepared colors. ‘This is 
not well for the beginner, however, who will find the 
high-grade oil colors on the market quite satisfactory 
in every way. The most commonly used pigments 
in graining are the umbers and siennas, and as there 
are inferior grades of these pigments it is well to 
mention the fact here; while the American umbers, 
ochres, and siennas are stronger in tinting power than 
the imported, they do not have as fine a color tone as 
the latter. Buy the Italian siennas and the Turkey 
umbers, and French yellow ochre. Either drop-black or 
lampblack may be used in graining, but the former is 
most generally used, as lampblack is greasy. Where 
rose lake or rose pink are used, remember that the 
former is weaker than the latter color, it being simply 
a white base tinctured with the lake color; the lake 
gives a far richer effect. But the rose lake, so called, 
is useful in some kinds of graining, which will be found 
explained in another part of this work. 

For oil-color graining we have a standard for 
mixing the thinning liquid, namely, 2 parts of raw 
linseed oil and 3 parts of turpentine; to this add $ 
pint of japan drier. Some add a little beeswax to the 
thinners for the purpose of preventing the grained 
work from falling flat, the wax holding it up. A little 
less than one ounce of shredded beeswax to the above 
formula may be used. Melt it and thin it out with 
a pint of turpentine, shake well, then add to the 
thinners, and again shake. ‘Turpentine dissolves wax 
and keeps it in solution. Some grainers, perhaps 


Ground and Graining Colors; Tools Used 97 


the most of them, do not use wax in the graining 
color. You are advised to try it for yourself, and 
thereby prove its value. Wax is not well under 
varnish, and that is a reason for its rejection by some. 

The wax acts as a megilp, which means a prepara- 
tion intended to be added to paint or color, and to 
do what we have just noted. If you try the wax or 
megilp, do not use much at first, as little as you 
think will do; if not enough, the quantity may be 
gradually increased until you get the right admixture. 
Wall advises not more than one ounce to the gallon 
of graining color, dissolving it in turpentine and 
stirring it in the graining color while warm. Japan 
driers act as a meglip when too much is used. It 
thickens and soon dries the color, so that it does not 
have time to fall down. 

Water-graining color also may be megilped with 
soap and wax, mixed with the thinning color of water 
and vinegar (it used to be beer and water). The 
formula calls for } ounce of soap, cut or shredded, 
and melted in 4 pint of hot water; also 4 ounce of 
wax, shredded and melted in 4 pint of hot water, and 
1 gill of strong vinegar. The whole is to be mixed 
together and heated and shaken until perfect mixture 
occurs. 

The tools necessary to do a job of graining are 
not many, and may be listed as follows: A set of 
English steel graining combs, some of which should 
have every alternate two teeth removed; a stippler 
brush, both narrow and wide; large and small over- 


98 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


grainer brush; large and small mottler brush; a 
badger hair blender; a piped overgrainer; a wide flat 
rubbing-in brush; small flat bristle fitch or liner 
brushes; sash tool; sponge; check roller, and some 
clean soft cotton rags. The steel combs with teeth 
removed are made by the grainer, who takes a coarse 
and light comb and breaks off every other two teeth. 
We should not omit mention of the duster brush for 
cleaning off sanded work, etc. 

Perhaps the most useful of tools to the grainer is 
his set of steel combs, with the supplementary combs 


Fig. 16. 


of leather and rubber. The English steel combs - 
remain, as they have been for many years, the best of 
the kind. They are made from what is called blue 
steel, the American combs being made from a softer 
metal, and, of course, easily bent. These combs 


Ground and Graining Colors; Tools Used 99 


consist of sets of 30 inches, assorted, 6, 9, and 12 
teeth per inch, and 1, 2, 3, and 4 inches wide. The 


combs are in a neat 
and convenient steel 
case, and when done 
using combs they 
should be cleaned 
and returned to 
their proper places 
in the case. There 
is a pliable leather 
comb that comes in 
sets of five combs, 
assorted, 20 inches. 
Another comb is 
made from a fine 
quality of rubber, 
firmly set in wood 
handles, as shown 
in the illustration. 
They are 3 inches 
in length, with fine, 
medium, and coarse 
teeth. When order- 
ing these combs it 
should be stated 
what kind of teeth 


Fig. 17.—Rubber combs. 


is desired, the medium being the most generally 
used, though a full set of the sizes would be best. 
A set comprises 12 combs, making 30 inches. 


too Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


Then there is a very heavy rubber-toothed comb 
with long teeth and with a bevel on them. This 
comb, you will notice, has the teeth graduated from 
coarse to very fine, by which you can produce a good 
open-grain effect. They come in two sizes, 5 and 

1 inches in length. There is still another rubber 
comb which contains three sizes of teeth, fine, medium, - 
and coarse, set in one handle, a very useful and 
convenient set of combs. 

The check roller prints in the fine little dashes seen 
in some samples of oak, and it is one of the best of 


Fig. 18. 


modern tools. It is made of zinc disks 1% inches in 
diameter. ‘The disks revolve on an axle, and receive 
color from a brush, as shown in the cut. In width 
these rollers run from 2 to 34 and 45 inches. The 
roller may be bought with or without the brush, but 
as the disks may be furnished with color from the 
graining color brush it may not be considered neces- 
sary to have one. 7 

Now we come to the graining tools made of flexible 
rubber, tools that would cause an ancient times 


Ground and Graining Colors; Tools Used 1o1 


grainer, could he rise up and see them, gasp. But 
they are useful, just the same. Made for household 
use primarily, many amateur grainers find them a 
boon in getting through with their task. The first 
illustration herewith shows a handful of these tools, 
a full set. The small cuts with the large one show 


Fig. 19. 


the concave and convex forms, designed for certain 
parts of the work. These tools are made of a special 
rubber composition which combines toughness with 
great elasticity. The handles are of spring steel. 
With this tool you can work with one hand, anywhere 
that you can reach, and is said to be the only one 


1o2 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


that does. It is also flexible, as others are usually 
not. This makes it conform readily to any uneven- 
ness in the work, whether that of uneven parts, or 
moldings, etc. Wherever you can get with a paint 
brush you can get with this tool. The tools come 
in sets of five, as shown in the illustration. No. 1 is 
3 inches long, 15 inches in diameter, and corrugated. 
No. 2 is 5 inthes long, 15 inches in diameter, and 
corrugated. No. 3 is 3 inches long, 14 inches in 
diameter, for veins. No. 4 is 5 inches long, 15 inches 
in diameter, for veins. No. 5 is 5 inches long, 15 
inches in diameter, for quartered oak. 


Chapter X 


NOTES ON VARIOUS FORMS OF GRAINING 


Owinc to the difficulty and expense in doing 
graining by hand various devices have come into use 
during the past and present time for doing this work 
more expeditiously and at less cost in time and money. 
It is only just to the practical grainer to say that he 
still retains his ancient prestige in being the only 
satisfactory machine on the market. Yet some very 
good work can be done with the devices alluded to, 
and particularly in the hands of expert grainers. 
On large jobs and low-cost work they ought to help 
him out. All graining devices have the objectionable 
feature of want of variety, or fault of monotonous 
repet tion. Moreover, with most of them one cannot 
get into corners or other parts, in which case the 
grainer has to finish out by hand, and that is not 
satisfactory. But where the object is flat and without 
obstructions there is little or no difficulty of this kind. 
For example, the roller is very satisfactory on casket 
work and on panels raised above the surface of the 
work. In fact, a vast amount of such work is now 
done with such devices. The most satisfactory de- 
vice that the present writer has ever used is Cal- 
low’s stencil plates, and of which there are a sufficient 


number of designs as to almost if not entirely remove 
103 


1o4 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


the objection of repetition. They are (or were, for I 
hear nothing of them in recent years) made from thin 
flexible copper plates, finely tempered, cut out in 
stencil manner. One side of the plate is made so 
that it does not touch every part of the ground work, 
being slightly corrugated, which prevents it from 
taking up any of the rubbed-in color, besides admit- 
ting air between plate and surface of work. 

After rubbing in the work in the usual manner the 
plate is placed in position and then a coarse steel 
comb, having every other tooth removed, and with a 
piece of soft rag placed over it, is drawn over the 
stencil, thus removing color from the openings, 
making the desired growths. It should have been 
said that before stenciling you should comb the 
rubbed-in color. Now there is a way of varying the 
figuring by either moving the stencil a little way up 
or down, moving it gradually, the way you are wiping 
out the grain, or in same direction; this gives a larger 
growth; by reversing this operation, or moving the 
stencil against the way you are wiping out the grain, 
you get a smaller grain effect. The check roller is 
useful in this work, as it is in most all oak work. I 
am describing oak graining now. I never had stencil 
plates for doing any other form of wood. A little 
expert head work is a help; after all is done softly 
blend against the heart growths. 

The roller process was one of the earliest attempts 
to do machine graining, and various forms of this 
device have been constructed and used with more or 


Notes on Various Forms of Graining 105 


less success. The one which we are about to des- 
cribe is the best of any. It may be called a method 
of printing on wood to represent natural wood growths. 

The roller is made from strong, light, and well- 
seasoned wood. It may be formed as a segment of a 
circle, in rocker shape, or be made in this manner: 
There is a shaft of wood that extends about 4 inches 
beyond either side of the rocker, and in this shaft are 
placed about a dozen $-inch spokes and around which 
is bent a strip of g-inch of thin gum wood, which 
forms the roller or rocker. The shaft is also the 
handle on either side, for the two hands, and should 
be made smooth. Fora large roller provide a circular 
head of 1-inch board, which must be a little larger 
in diameter than the roller. Cut the edges of the 
heads true, and fasten down close to the roller; secure 
the same firmly with bolts made to hook over the 
spokes of the roller. Fasten the head down true, so 
that it will form a flange of equal depth all around 
the roller. Now turn the roller over and stop all 
holes with plaster of Paris; the best way to do this is 
to run the plaster all around the inside of the roller; 
there must be no leaks. In the head of the roller, as 
it stands upright, cut out three or four holes along 
the edge of the head, about 1 by 2 inches, to admit the 
composition and allow the air to escape. 

Now take a long and smooth strip of zinc that will 
be sufficient to enclose the roller, rub it well with 
grease or oil, then place it around the roller, the 
greased side in. Be sure to have the zinc well greased 


106. Standard Grainer, Stainer, and. Marbler 


so that none of the composition will stick to it; apply 
plenty of it,.and remove surplus with a rag. A very 
large roller must have the zinc fastened with collar 
bands. Draw the zinc around the heads of the 
roller, and then pour in the composition through a 
strainer. Let it stand twelve hours before removing 
the zinc. 

For doing small parts, as window sash, etc., make 
the roller a little more in circumference -than the 
length of the surface that is to be grained. This 
roller may be the segment of a circle of wood, in 
rocker form. A good plan for small rocker or roller 
is to make a light wooden frame of the required size, 
as a mold, set in plaster of Paris on a piece of zinc or 
glass. Into this mold pour the composition, and on 
top of the composition lay a piece of canvas. When 
cool attach to roller or rocker, fastening the edges 
and ends of the canvas with tacks. 

The composition is made by taking 12 ounces of 
raw linseed oil and heating to near the boiling-point; 
‘then add 1 ounce of chloride of sulphur; in another 
vessel melt 2 pounds of the best white glue and add 
to it 8 ounces of commercial glycerine. In dis- 
solving the glue use as little water as possible. Now 
mix well together by stirring. Another method: 
Melt 27 parts of the best white glue, and add to it 12 
parts of the best commercial glycerine; add also a 
small quantity of molasses, and raw linseed oil. For 
a roller weighing from 10 to 15 pounds use $ pint of 
molasses and the same of oil. To test the composi- 


Notes on Various Forms of Graining 107 


tion for consistency, cool a little of it; if it proves to 
be too hard, add a little more glycerine; if too soft, 
add a little more glue. Keep the composition hot, 
and if it boils it will be the better for it. 

To use the roller, prepare a sample board of the 
wood you wish to imitate and print from, selecting as 
good a sample as possible, with good margins. Oak 
is, of course, the best wood for the purpose, though 
any other wood having a deep pore can be success- 
fully used. ‘The board should be 6 inches wider and 
1 foot longer than the circumference of the roller. 
Dress the wood carefully. Fasten thin strips all 
around the board and extending an inch above the 
board. Bore a 4-inch hole in one corner for use when 
cleaning off the board. Now take a half-box of 
concentrated lye and dissolve it in water, hot water 
being best. Then pour it out on the board and let 
it remain there about twenty minutes, after which 
run it off and wash the board in clear water until not 
a trace of lye remains. When the board is perfectly 
dry smooth it with fine sandpaper. Then try the 
board, applying color to ascertain whether the grain 
is eaten out enough for the printing. If not, it will 
have to be given the lye bath again. The lye eats 
away all the softer parts of the wood, leaving only 
the hard, which forms the grain and heart growths. 
The printing board, when done, is like an etching. 

The next thing to provide is a scraper, and it can 
be made in the following manner: Take a piece of 
clear white pine board, $-inch thick, 4 inches wide, 


108 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


and 12 inches long. In one edge of this board cut 
an inch-deep groove. Set in this groove, with glue, 
a firm piece of sole leather 15 inches wide and as long 
as the board. Plane off the edge of the wood clear 
down to the leather to a rather blunt, but perfectly 
true, edge. With this tool you can remove the 
surplus color from the roller-printing device. 

Next is the printing or graining color. Water 
colors cannot be used, the colors must be those that 
are ground in japan. Let the printing color be a 
little thicker than ordinary paint, strain it on to the 
board, and spread it out evenly with the scraper, 
with both hands pushing the scraper forward and 
pressing down hard on it. A new board is difficult 
to get a clean impression from, hence it is advised to 
run it a few times before starting it on the real work 
in hand. The pores of the wood should be level full 
and the surface should be free of color; this will give 
the best and clearest impression. After the board 
has been in use for some time it will clean off nicely 
by running over it once with color. Thin the japan 
colors with turpentine, to form a paste, then add a 
little boiled linseed oil to prevent the color from 
becoming too dry on the board. 

Having coated the impression board with the color, 
take the roller in both hands; choose a point on the 
roller to start from, then put the roller down on the 
board; press evenly and firmly and roll it along the 
board until a full revolution has been made, being 
careful not to go beyond that point, for that would 


Notes on Various Forms of Graining 109 


cause a lap on the roller. Now pick up the roller 
without letting it slip on the board and place it care- 
fully on the surface that is to be printed, beginning 
with the same point of the roller that you began with 
on the impression board. Roll firmly, evenly, stead- 
ily, and don’t let the roller slip. This should give on 
the prepared surface a perfect copy of the impression 
board, in the same manner that printers get impres- 
sions from wood-cuts or zinc etchings. 

After making the impression required, clean off the 
roller with a cloth made damp with benzine, then run 
the board as before, taking another impression, and 
so continue until you are done printing. Then clean 
off the board with some benzine and a scrub-brush, to 
remove every vestige of the printing color. If the 
board is clogged with color you will have to soften it 
with some lye, but don’t allow it to eat too long, for 
that would do injury to the print. Finally, clean 
off with water, let the board dry, then put it away 
until wanted for use again. Clean the roller care- 
fully with benzine and keep it in a cool place, for if 
too warm the composition would soften. Otherwise 
the composition will keep for a long time unim- 
paired. 

Transfer graining paper has long been in use, and 
has some advantages over the more rigid forms of 
grainers in that the paper can be placed in any part 
of the work, no matter how small. The designs 
shown on such paper are hardly such as the real wood 
possesses, and are usually if not always coarse and 


110 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


Se 


———— 2 


SSS = ES 
SS ee ieee oe 


—— 


= 
————— = <= : 
SS ES LS ee 
= met sg = 3 = SS 2 a 
$35 Pees eS, = x 
os = SS é SIS AS Se 5 
= = LEAS’, é eS = aS 
EMS ba ee 7 as = 
=e AS ee, Z Soe NY 
SS SS SSE ee SS 
= = —— < = ZZ = | 
= a 


== 


a 


SS 


= 


= sat, = 
SSS SSS SSS 
SS = 


== == 


amet 


<== 
—=— 


— = ss 


j 
Wh i 'y s, Mm 
Nh fees j faescey, % WA 
: Me ah 
yay I; Yad A 4 
ai fd 


Wey Les 
H(Cye AN 


Notes on Various Forms of Graining 111 


unattractive. This paper is made in Germany, at 
least all that I have ever seen bore that mark. 

The directions for using this paper are as follows: 
Cut the paper a little larger than the size required. 
Place it face down on a clean surface and dampen the 
back of it with a partly wet sponge in order to dampen 
the water colors on the face of it. After soaking 
thus for a few minutes it is ready to be transferred to 
the surface that is to be done. The ground is the 
usual prepared graining ground, and before printing 
the design on it from the paper it is to be made moist 
evenly all over; it must not be too wet. Place the 
transfer downward on its face, against the moist 
ground, just as in hanging wall-paper, and be careful 
not to get any creases in it. Smooth the paper out, 
rubbing it all over, then take off the paper, and softly 
blend with the badger or other soft brush. Do this 
at once after removing the wet paper. It is claimed 
by the makers that one sheet of this paper will give 
several printed copies, but this is doubtful. 

The transfer paper is made to imitate marbles as 
well as woods. That the work done by these transfers 
can scarcely be distinguished from real wood or 
marble may well be taken with a grain or two of salt. 
The graining paper comes in lengths of a little more 
than 8 yards, and in width a little over 2 feet. After 
the transfers have been put on and have become dry 
the surface of the work is to be smoothed lightly with 
fine sandpaper, dusted off, and to insure greater 
curability a coat of oil graining color should 


112 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


be glazed over it, followed by a coat or two of 
varnish. 

A painter correspondent of a trade journal speaks 
of it as “‘the now universally used graining paper,” 
and gives some instructions for using it on the raw 
or bare wood. He says: 

“On new clean pine finish for inside work put your 
transfer paper on the bare wood, cut the paper the 
proper size to fit the panels and stiles of doors or what- 
ever your work may be and wet the paper on the 
wrong side, let it soak for a while and press the paper 
with the figured side on the surface of the wood you 
wish to grain (you can take at least two transfers from 
each paper) and when you have covered all the wood 
work to be grained, go over the surface of all the wood 
with light oak or dark oak stain, but this must be 
very thin, as the pine wood takes up more stain than 
any other wood used for inside finish. 

‘After your graining and staining, putty up with 
well-matched putty and put on your shellac, then 
one or two coats of varnish.” 

The rubber graining roller first appeared a few 
years ago, but the idea has been considerably elabo- 
rated since then, until there now are several different 
forms of them, capable of imitating many, if not all, 
the different growths of natural woods. Like all 
similar devices, the expert workman will be able to 
do much better work with these than the housewife 
or her man. A handful of these tools is given in the 
annexed illustration. Specimens of the work they 


Notes on Various Forms of Graining 112 


are capable of doing are shown in another illustration, 
the numbers thereon relating to the tools similarly 
numbered. Still another illustration shows the man- 
ner of working the tool and the work it can do. 

What is known as brush-graining is a cheap and 
easy form of work that is useful where the woodwork 
is old and in poor condition as to its surfaces. Such 
buildings as residences, stores, public halls, schools, 
etc., offer good fields for such work. The following 
is the method of procedure: 

Make the work as good as possible with a little 
cleaning off and sandpapering, with whatever repairs 
may be necessary. Then give it a coat of paint, or 
two if necessary, though where there is plenty of 
paint on the work, no matter what color, one coat 
will do. This coat should be mixed from white lead 
thinned with 1 part raw oil and 3 parts of turpentine, 
which will give a rather flat surface, or egg-shell 
gloss. The paint must be light in color, tinting the 
lead with yellow ochre to a cream tint will do. When 
dry, the graining color may be applied; this may be 
a light oak or any color you choose. After the 
graining color has been applied let it stand a little 
while to become slightly set. Driers, of course, have 
been added to the ground and graining colors. Then 
grain the work. This is very simple and rather 
primitive. You are advised to get an old whisk 
broom and draw it down the surface like a comb, but 
there is no intention to make the work look like any 
wood. ‘The markings are to be straight or with very 


114 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


little wave. Always brush with the grain of the wood. 
This is all there is to this form of graining. When 
done and dry the finish may be with varnish or wax, 
as desired. The following table gives suitable color 
combinations for this kind of graining: 


Ground. Graining Color. 
Créanr Ot avorvine set some Raw sienna 
Crean OC Ivory 27 eae Burnt sienna 
Creani OrivOry scien Burnt umber 
Cream or Whites, oy ure Dark chrome green 


Whitev ut oaNace aoe oe Blue black 


Chapter XI 


SOME PRACTICAL GRAINING NOTES 


How to Make Crayons.—Ordinary crayons are a 
commercial product, and such as can be used for 
graining or marbling should be purchased. Usually 
these crayons are made on a whiting base, colored 
with certain dry pigments and bound with some form 
of glutinant. It is difficult to make a good lake or 
carmine crayon, the lake inclining to a carmine tint, 
and carmine to a vermilion tint. Prussian blue 
causes the whiting to pack too hard, hence it is 
difficult to make a blue crayon soft enough; spirits, 
instead of water, is used for this crayon. For brown 
crayons, brown ochre, either alone or mixed with 
carmine, is good. The siennas and umbers are 
useful also for graining and marbling. Prussian 
blue, ground in spirit, and mixed with pulverized 
lake, gives a good purple. For a black crayon lamp- 
black is the best pigment, as all other blacks are 
liable to mildew. Good combinations are carmine 
and lamp-black, vermilion and black, and Prussian 
blue and black. Whiting and lampblack give gray 
tints. 

The grainer and marbler should have a box about 
12 inches square, containing nine compartments, to 
hold the crayons. In one have the black and gray 


115 


116 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


crayons; these being the least frequently used; in the 
next have the blues; in the third place the greens 
and browns; and so on, with carmines, lakes, ver- 
milions, deep reds, yellow, and orange, etc. 

To make graining and marbling crayons take pipe 
clay and the color and mix both together; then have 
ready some strong hot soapsuds, and mix with the 
clay and color until like putty in consistency; roll it 
out on a board to a thickness of about % inch; with a 
broad-bladed knife cut it into strips of about % inch, 
making the crayon a little less than 4 inch square 
when dry. 

For oak graining the crayon should be made with 
such colors as are used in graining, say, raw sienna 
and a little umber, and so on with the rest. 


Graining Piano Stools——In the piano factories 
these stools are made in large numbers, and to grain 
them in the usual manner, by hand work, involves 
too much time, which means expense. The stool is 
made to match the piano casein color or wood. ‘Thus, 
to match walnut burl veneer apply a liquid made 
from burnt umber, dry, for the color, and thin with 
vinegar to which add some sugar as binder; an ounce 
of sugar to the pint of vinegar will do. This liquid 
is to stand a day before using. When ready to go 
to work provide yourself with a pail of water and a 
soft coarse sponge, the water to wash out the sponge 
occasionally. First wet the sponge in clear water 
and wring it out as dry as you can, then dip it into 


Some Practical Graining Notes 117 


the graining color, when it is ready for the work of 
dabbing it on, to make the mottled appearance of 
the burl. This is all that is to be done in the way of 
graining; when dry the stool is dipped in a mixture 
composed of 1 part each of varnish and brown japan, 
2 parts of turpentine. The next day apply a coat of a 
surfacer made as follows: A gallon each of varnish 
and brown japan, 1 quart of turpentine, } pint of 
asphaltum, and 10 pounds of powdered silica. Do 
not make this too dark; it is to coat the white wood 
between the grained figures. The next day the 
stools are dipped in varnish, this one coat being 
sufficient finish. 

The foregoing applies only to the part below the 
seat, but the seats were done in pretty much the same 
manner, only that the varnish was applied by a brush, 
with a coat of shellac in place of the dip coat after 
the graining. The legs and under parts of the piano 
made to match the veneered top by means of the 
printing roll, already described. 


Graiming Teak.—This fine wood is done in water 
color, the ground color being composed of white lead,. 
Venetian red, and yellow ochre, some adding a little 
chrome yellow. An expert advises a little burnt 
umber also, not enough to darken the color, but to 
modify the red and yellow. The color will be rather 
dull when mixed, but it will show up bright enough 
under the graining. Mix with equal amounts of oil 
and turpentine. The graining color may be mixed 


118 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


on a board or palette, making it rather stiff, thinning 
with the usual water-color thinners. The ground is 
stippled, using a thin wash of Vandyke brown, making 
a fine stipple. The growths are very plain and simple, 
and are made with the fitch, while the plain lines on 
the sides are made by drawing the badger blender, 
using the flat part, hard against the work, dragging 
it down sharp; or use the overgrainer. Blend at once. 
Some stipple the work after the growths have been 
put in, beginning at the bottom and working up. Or 
stipple with the badger brush. When this method 
is used the work should then be softly blended up- 
ward. After this the heart is put in with the pencil. 
We have given two methods, and would add that the 
work may be done in oil, but the stipple will have to 
be done in water color. 


Circassian Walnut.—The ground color for this wood 
is drabby, to match the lightest color of the wood. 
It is best done in water colors. Use thin color, and 
use the sponge for making the open places. The 
dark parts seen in the wood may be formed with a 
part-worn sash tool. The graining color is made 
from raw umber and drop-black, used in varying 
proportions to match the variety of shades and 
shadows seen. 


Graining a Maple Door.—There is not much variety 
to be obtained in either the ground or color of maple. 
In a mass of work a little may be made by means of 


Some Practical Graining Notes 119 


different tinted grounds, or the graining color may 
be made a little darker, redder, or blacker in parts. 
A good effect can be secured by graining in black. 
The varnish over this shows a very attractive greenish 
tint, which may be suited to certain schemes of 
decoration. Raw sienna and black offer another 
change of color, but the most useful color is Vandyke 
brown. An ordinary four-panel door may be set 
out and grained in the following manner: Make the 
ground white and the graining color Vandyke brown; 
penciling and eyes in burnt sienna; overgraining in 
Vandyke. Work on the four panels to be figured, 
with single or treble lights. Eyes to be put in with 
burnt sienna and veined with a red crayon or pencil. 
Lock rail, figured, double lights, and veined like the 
panels. Top rail, plain mottling; bottom rail, irregu- 
lar or broken mottling; middle and outer side rails, 
with a few eyes at top or bottom and broken away 
into plain mottling. Run the 4-inch overgrainer 
over all the stiles, but pencil in the lock rail. Do the 
rails, except the lock rail, same as the stiles. 


SOME GRAINING NOTES 


Don’t use a stub brush for rubbing in. 

Use a flat, rather than a round, brush for rubbing 
in with. 

Keep everything clean, pots and tools. 

Make your ground color egg-shell gloss. 

The colors used in graining should be ground | as 
fine and smooth as butter. 


120 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


Three thin coats of paint for the ground are better 
than two heavy coats. 

Brush out the ground color evenly and leave no 
brush marks on it. 

Boiled oil is preferred by some to the raw in making 
the graining color. 

Graining color should always be strained before 
using, and the same with the paint for the ground. 

Before graining sandpaper the ground lightly with 
fine or worn sandpaper, but be careful not to make 
any scratch-marks, which will show through. 

Let the grained work stand at least three days 
before varnishing it, and a longer time will do 
better. 

The same with the graining ground, let it stand a 
few days before graining on it. 

Make the ground as light as the lightest part of the 
wood you are going to imitate. 

Use a little megilp in the graining color; some use 
wax, others prefer whiting. 

Whiting affects certain pigments, hence cannot 
always be used as a megilp. Soap does very well. 

For thinning graining color use turpentine 4 gallon, 
boiled oil 2} quarts, and driers about 4 pint. 

When the graining color creeps in cold weather, add 
a little alcohol to the pot of graining color. Stir it 
well and add a little drier. 

When varnish creeps in cold weather on the surface 
of the grained work, coat it over with benzine, and 
the varnish will flow and stay put. 


Some Practical Graining Notes 121 


Some expert grainers prefer an old kalsomine brush 
for rubbing in color. 

When making up the liquid for water-color grain- 
ing, using vinegar and water, add some sugar to it. 

The best finish on an outside door, exposed to 
‘the weather, and grained, is raw oil with a little drier 
in it; apply freely and rub it well into the ground work, 
and leave no surplus on the surface. Some add a 
little turpentine to the oil and driers. 


PART THE SECOND 


ART OF WOOD STAINING 
Chapter XII 


THE IMITATION OF WOODS WITH STAINS 


Woop staining dates farther back into the historic 
past than graining, and today has a much greater 
vogue, especially in manufacturing fields, where 
- graining never has had a prominent part, and today 
‘less than ever. Back in the early seventies, or 
earlier, painted and grained furniture had quite a 
vogue, and in our present day it has been revived 
to some extent. Such vogues are to be attributed 
to the desire of people to have change, which is, of 
course, at the bottom of all changes and fashions. 

It must be remembered, however, that in former 
days there were but few woods used in making furni- 
ture and for house finishing, as compared with the 
present, nor was the art of wood finishing so well 
known. As for staining of wood, it was little done. 
Wood filling and staining dates back about fifty 
years only, or within memory of living workmen. 


In the meantime great improvements have been made 
123 


124 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


both in methods and materials used, and a greater 
variety of woods are being used for finishing by filling 
and staining. 

Staining may be considered as a brother to the art 
of graining, so that a part of this book will be devoted 
to that subject, but filling and varnishing will not 
be considered, nor anything but the mere use and 
nature of stains. The other subjects more properly 
belong to wood finishing, concerning which subject. 
there is an excellent work now in print. 

Wood stains may be derived from both the vegetable 
and mineral kingdoms. Certain barks, roots, woods, 
and plants furnish coloring-matters of great beauty 
and value, the latter because of great stability, a 
quality lacking in many colors that are otherwise 
obtained, but the most used of colors, from the. 
stainer’s standpoint, as well as from that of the 
grainer and house painter, are the mineral colors, 
such as sienna, umber, Vandyke brown, etc. Then 
there are the chemically prepared colors, such as 
green, yellow, Prussian blue, etc., with lampblack 
and drop-black. Then science has given us an 
endless variety of colors from coal-tar, now known as 
aniline dyes, which, very beautiful indeed, are lacking 
in stability. 

In the preparation of any of these pigments we 
must use a liquid to mix them with. Some of them 
are best adapted to water as a thinner, or as ap- 
plicable to the wood. Others are more useful when 
mixed with oil or turpentine, or one of several other 


The Imitation of Woods with Stains 125 


liquids. We find that the umbers and siennas and 
Vandyke brown do better when mixed with oil. 
The vegetable stains, little used, are generally mixed 
in water. Water stain is more penetrating than oil 
stain, but has the serious fault of raising the grain 
of the wood. It gives a more solid coloring because 
it carries the pigment into the wood, whereas oil 
stain does not act so, but holds some of the pigment 
on the surface. Oil stain brushes out well on soft 
woods, while water stains do not. Turpentine stain 
is absorbed by the wood too quickly to give an equal 
distribution of the color. Oil stain does not penetrate 
well on hard woods. Water stain does much better. 
Turpentine stain carries the pigment well into the 
wood, but is more costly than water. 

The aniline stains used in wood staining are known 
as water soluble; the oil-soluble stains are not so 
used. There are water-soluble, oil-soluble, and alco- 
hol-soluble anilines. The usual formula for a water 
stain is an ounce of the aniline to the quart of hot 
water. Pour the water over the aniline, and stir it 
with a wooden paddle. Do not place the stain in a 
metal vessel; use glass, porcelain, or glazed vessel. 
To prepare alcohol aniline stain place the dye in a 
vessel and pour over it a quart of alcohol. Shake it 
now and then for a few hours, then filter it into a 
bottle. When filtering it place a saucer over it to 
retard evaporation. 

In using aniline stains they must be applied quickly 
and deftly in order to cover the object you are 


126 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


staining uniformly and avoid a cloudy effect. The 
larger the surface, the more difficult to do this. Spirit 
stain is more difficult to spread than water stain. 
A small sponge is useful in applying such stains, 
though a wide, flat, soft hair brush is mostly used. 
Immediately after applying the Stain wipe it off with 
a rag in order to show the figures of the wood more 
distinctly. 

The stain may be made lighter in tone by dilution 
with water or alcohol, as the case may be, and darker 
by applying two coats. Certain woods require two 
coats to give the best effect. Before staining on 
soft, spongy wood, or wood with soft places in it, 
give it a thin coat of shellac. Some woods need to 
be bleached to look right. This is done by mixing a 
wash as follows: 


Tin chloride: 2... 2 8 ounces 
soda crystals). uae 1 ounee 
Water... Sin oar eee 5 pints 


Apply this, and in a few minutes apply a wash of 
dilute sulphuric acid, follow this with washing off 
with clear water, let dry, then apply the stain. 

In using water stains on raw wood the grain of the 
wood will rise unless it is a hard, compact wood, and 
when this occurs, let it dry, then lightly rub off with 
fine sandpaper. Or first wet the wood, let it dry, 
then sandpaper it. In the first case there is danger 
of spoiling the staining with the sandpaper unless 
very deftly done. An expert tells us that his plan is 


The Imitation of Woods with Stains 127 


to coat first with benzine 5 parts and raw linseed oil 
1 part. Some add a little glycerine or castor oil to 
alcohol stains. This will retard the drying of the 
stain a little, and may prove a trouble in the shel- 
lacking and varnishing. A tablespoonful of castor 
oil to the quart of stain is the rule. Allow extra time 
for the drying of a stain containing these retardants. 
A finish like Flemish oak, for instance, will do very 
well with stains containing the oil or glycerine, as it 
does not have to be filled or varnished. A table- 
spoonful of Venice turpentine would be less objection- 
able; a tablespoonful to the pint of stain. 

The woods differ in the matter of taking stain. 
For instance, maple can easily be stained gray. Oak 
will not give the right gray color with stain, as its 
natural color tends to give the gray stain a greenish 
tone under the wax. Light gray stain on oak is 
liable to yellow, this is especially true where aniline 
dye is used. All woods stained with such metallic 
salts as potassium chromate, copper sulphate, etc., 
assume a brownish tone in time. 

Some anilines are more or less light-proof, and 
when mixing a stain try to secure such. When two 
or more aniline colors are to be mixed together have 
all as near light-proof as possible. To illustrate, if a 
brown stain is mixed from black, yellow and red, 
and the red is less light-proof than the other two 
colors, the stained wood will gradually assume a much 
lighter shade than desirable. It all depends on the 
preponderance of some color in the dye whether the 


128 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


finish will show one shade or some other. If in a 
brown color red is in excess, the final shade will be 
reddish brown. ‘The modern greenish-brown shades 
similar to the fumed finish are usually mixed with 
green, and green deadens all colors. If too much of 
it is used the shade will have too deep a greenish hue, 
and the red may be used to offset the green. 

Most colors may be made by using the primaries— 
red, yellow, and blue. Since the blues are, however, 
less light-proof than the others, they are avoided 
wherever possible, other colors being substituted. 

It is impossible to get exactly the same color on a 
wood with the same stain. A piece. of furniture will 
show considerable differences in shades in the various 
parts, though the fact is not so very apparent in the 
finished product. You would easily see them if you 
could place the different parts side by side. The 
reason for such difference lies in the wood itself. 
Boards from the one log will show this difference, and 
it is impossible to get the same shade over the entire 
surface. This fact is stated for the benefit of stainers 
who may feel inclined to blame the stain, when it is 
more likely to be due to the wood. ; 

Aniline stains leave the pores of the wood lighter 
than the rest of the wood; remedy this by waxing 
the stained surface, but do not apply too much wax; 
as that will make the pores too dark, and the surface 
of the work will assume a dirty brown effect... 2015 


fan Sik 


The Imitation of Woods with Stains 129 


VARIOUS STAINS 


Brown Stains.—Strong acids act upon wood as fire, 
burning it, and the resultant stain is a brown. ‘Thus, 
with diluted sulphuric acid, the amount of dilution 
regulating the depth of the brown color. After it 
has been applied, watch its action, and when it has 
produced the desired shade of color wanted, arrest 
its action by an application of ammonia-water. Use 
a hog bristle brush in applying the acid. 

Various browns may be produced by mordanting 
the wood with bichromate of potash; the stain is 
made from fustic or logwood solution. 

Alcohol stains are usually fugitive. Here is a 
formula for making such a stain: Take 1 ounce each 
of aloes and dragon’s blood and § ounce of alkanet 
root; let these digest in 1 pint of alcohol: The wood 
must first be coated (mordanted) with an acid. 

Tincture of iodine gives a fine brown stain on wood, 
but the color is not permanent. A coat of varnish, 
however, tends to preserve the color from fading. 
This stain is feasible only where some small object 
is to be colored. 

Benzo-brown aniline, 3 parts, and table salt, 10 
parts, gives a good brown stain. As also Bismarck 
brown 1 part, sulphate of soda 18 parts, and nigrosine 
+ part (the latter may be omitted if preferred), dis- 
solved in hot water to the desired strength. 

A good cheap brown stain that will be found useful 
for staining floors may be made by dissolving 7 ounce 


130 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


of permanganate of potash in 1 quart of water; the 
water must be hot when mixing and when applying 
it. Apply it liberally. At first the color is a bright 
magenta red, but it soon changes to a brown. Two 
coats will give a darker tone. When it is dry finish 
with wax or boiled linseed oil. 

Put a pound of Vandyke brown in a gallon of hot 
water and boil it until the quantity has been reduced 
to two-thirds. Mix 2 ounces of potash in hot water 
enough to melt it, then mix it with the stain. Two 
or more coats, as desired, to give deeper color. 

Sulphate of iron in solution with water gives a 
yellowish brown. 

Boil 1 ounce of catechu with 30 parts of water, and 
add a little bicarbonate of soda. Apply the stain, 
and when dry apply 1 part of bichromate of soda in 
30 parts of water-wash. By a little difference in the 
method of treatment, and by varying the strength of 
the solution, this will give various shades of brown. 
This stain is permanent and also tends to preserve 
the wood. 


Black Stains.—The following stain may be applied 
to almost any wood: Boil 1 ounce of logwood extract 
in 3{ pints of water, and when the dye has been 
entirely boiled out of the extract take the liquid and 
add to it 1 dram of yellow chromate of potash, and 
then shake the mixture. The color at first will be 
purple, but it quickly becomes black. This stain 
also makes a fairly good writing ink. 


The Imitation of Woods with Stains 131 


Brazil wood 1 part and water 5 parts, boiled with 
15 per cent. of alum, gives a good black. For a very 
deep black, first mordant the wood with iron solution, 
then apply the stain. 

Take nigrosine black aniline 4 ounces and dissolve 
in boiling water. A denser solution will give a deeper 
black, or even jet black. 

Apply a coat of hot logwood solution, let it dry, 
then give it another coat of the dye. When this is 
dry, apply an iron solution, which will act upon the 
logwood stain and yield a dense black. It may be 
finished with wax, rubbing the wax with raw linseed 
oil, or it may be left as stained. 

Boil together powdered nutgalls and Brazil wood 
in soft water until the liquid becomes black, then 
filter it, and apply it hot to the wood. Give the wood 
as many coats as will be necessary to produce a good 
black; then apply a coat of acetate of iron solution. 
Then if to this is added a solution of nitric acid 
solution, with a little verdigris, the durability of the 
stain will be improved. Finally, apply a decoction 
of nutgalls and logwood. 

Break up 1 ounce of nutgalls and pour over them 
+ pint of strong vinegar; after this has stood thirty 
minutes add 1 ounce of iron filings which will cause 
the vinegar to effervesce. Cover it, but do not 
exclude all air. Let it stand about thirty minutes 
and it will be ready for use. Apply as many coats as 
necessary to give the depth of color desired. Keep 
it in a tightly stoppered bottle. 


132 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


Black Stains for New Furniture.—Of all the various 
methods for producing a black stain on wood perhaps 
the best chemical substance to use is sulphide of 
soda, or of potash, in the lump. It gives a fast 
black, one ‘that is superior to that produced with 
acetate of iron or tannic acid. ‘The first application 
of sulphide of soda or potash must be left to dry about | 
two days before applying the second coat. It gives 
an intense black. 

Boil 1 pound of logwood chips in 2 quarts of water 
for one hour, and use by applying it while hot; when 
dry, repeat the application. Then dissolve 1 ounce 
of copperas in 1 quart of water, or make it stronger 
if you wish, and then apply it. Exposure to air will 
deepen the black, which will be intense. For the 
finish make a size with dry lampblack and glue, 
melting the glue in water, and making the black size 
very thin. Smooth with fine or worn sandpaper, 
then take some thin shellac varnish and add some 
black to it, slightly darkening it, and using alcohol to 
thin it out. Another way is to add drop-black to 
copal varnish, applying two coats. The finish may 
be either dull or gloss. 


Ebony Stain.—For hardwood apply two coats of 
nigrosine black stain, and fill the wood with black 
filler; smooth with fine sandpaper, then apply a coat 
of ivory drop-black, ground in japan, and thin with 
turpentine; when dry apply varnish, which polish. 

Two pounds of logwood chips, $ pound of copperas, 


The Imitation of Woods with Stains 133 


4 ounces of dry drop-black, and 1 pound of logwood 
extract; boil four hours in 2 quarts of water; strain, 
and add 1 ounce of powdered nutgalls. 

Nutgalls 14 ounces, ground logwood 33 ounces, and 
verdigris 1% ounces. Apply one coat and let it dry. 
Then apply two or three coats of iron acetate, in 
solution. 


Lignum Vite.——The best woods for staining to 
match this wood are sycamore and beech. Apply a 
hot decoction of madder, let it dry, then give it a wash 
of sulphuric acid, diluted, and then when the desired 
depth of color has arrived, wash off with clear water. 


Red Ebony.—Sycamore first, then beech, as the 
best woods for staining red ebony. Mordant the 
wood with alum in solution; apply it hot. When 
dry, apply a hot solution of Brazil wood. When dry, 
apply a cold solution of iron acetate. 

The best woods for ebonizing are such as have a 
fine grain, close, dense, and hard. Many esteem pear 
wood as the best, but apple, sycamore, and hazelwood 
are very suitable too. 


Walnut Siains.—Mix together equal parts of raw 
umber and Vandyke brown to a paste with ammonia- 
water. Reduce with water to the usual staining 
consistency. Burnt umber with a portion of drop- 
black also gives a good walnut color, or burnt umber 
alone. 


134 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler. 


Make up a mordant of permanganate of potash, 
1 ounce, in 1 quart of water. Apply,.and when dry 
apply a coat of solution made from 1 ounce of pow- 
dered nutgalls mixed with 4 ounces of potash and a 
little Vandyke brown for color, so that there will be 
altogether 1 quart of stain. 

Mix together 2 quarts of boiled linseed oil, 1 quart 
of best brown japan, and 2 quarts of turpentine; 
add 2 pounds of burnt umber, ground in oil. A 
deeper color may be obtained by adding 3 pound of 
either drop-black or Vandyke. Get a lighter color 
by adding 8 ounces of burnt sienna to the first formula. 

A light walnut stain may be made with 1 ounce of 
permanganate of potash dissolved in 30 ounces of 
soft water; apply two coats at intervals of five 
minutes. Wash off with clear water, and when dry, 
oil and polish. 

A dark walnut stain may be had by following the 
above formula, and after washing with clear water 
make dark veins in the wood with iron acetate in 
solution, using a soft-hair pencil. 

A cheap walnut stain may be made by dissolving 
dry burnt umber in vinegar; then mix a pound of 
dry Venetian red with a pint of asphaltum varnish 
and a quart of turpentine, adding this to the vinegar 
and iron solution. 

White pine or any white wood will take walnut 
stain well. Permanganate of potash gives a good 
walnut on such woods, while the grain seen in the 
real walnut may be nicely imitated with a soft hair 


The Imitation of Woods with Stains 135 


pencil and acetate of iron in a vinegar solution. 
Privit berries, 2 ounces in a pint of water, } pint, 
give a good walnut. Walnut hulls also yield a fine 
walnut stain. 

To a gallon of shellac varnish a pound of dry burnt 
umber and 4 ounces of dry lamp-black. Sift these 
together, then stir into the thin shellac. Apply 
one coat, let it dry, sandpaper lightly, and finish with 
shellac or copal varnish. It is useful for many 
purposes, and largely used for doing the backs of 
mirrors. 


Cherry Stains.—Bismarck brown gives a fine warm 
cherry; 1 ounce in 2 quarts of boiling water, to which 
add § gill of strong vinegar. Apply it freely, and if 
too dark, thin it with water. 

A cheap cherry stain may be made from a pound of 
burnt sienna, dry, mixed with 1 pint of vinegar. 
Apply freely and wipe off when done. 

Mix 2 pounds of burnt sienna and 1 pound of raw 
sienna, ground in oil, in 2 quarts of boiled oil, and a 
quart each of brown japan and turpentine. 


NOTES ON STAINING PIGMENTS 


For the best results, where siennas and umbars are 
mentioned in formulas, use the imported, Italian 
sienna and Turkey umber. For certain cheap stains 
the American siennas and umbers can be used. ‘They 
cost less, and are very strong in coloring power, but 
have a less brilliant color tone. 


136 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


Even imported siennas and umbers will vary, so 
that there can be no standard for color tone. Some 
siennas in particular are either darker or lighter 
than others. But all should be ground very fine. 

The following table gives the equivalents of water 
colors in aniline stains or dyes: 


Water Colors. Aniline Colors. 
Sap Green olivine aro ee Naphthol Green 
Emerald Green sists > beeen Emerald and Malachite 
Scarlet: seo Fer eee Eosin and Bierich Scarlet 
Wioletcke. 3 Ua. wlth Cee Methyl Violet and Gallein 
Burnt Siena. sae Bismarck Brown 
Ultramerine.]- 1. eee Cotton Blue, Alkali Blue 
SkysBlue 25. sett eee Methylene-blue 
Lemon “Yellowwge eae Picric Acid 
Golden *Yellaw 2.-22s .4 ae Naphthol Yellow 
Wagentate eer ec eee Magenta 
Cadmium’ Orange... 42.02 Phosphine, Aurantia 
Crinison dakess en cee Congo Red 


STAINING OAK Woops 


Matching Brown Oak.—When common oak is to be 
made to look like brown or pollarded oak use a stain 
made from 1 ounce of bichromate of potash dissolved 
in 5 pints of soft water; this gives a weak stain, but 
it is strong enough for the purpose; if not, then use 
more potash. Use a soft sponge to apply it. 


Weathered Oak.—Make a solution of equal parts of 
water and iron sulphate or iron acetate. Or, dis- 
solve an ounce of bichromate of potash in a pint of 


The Imitation of Woods with Stains 137 


water, and apply alternately with the other solution. 
Each coat should be dry before applying the next. 

Or, dissolve 2 ounces each of potash and pearlash 
in 1 quart of water; use alternately with a solution 
of either iron acetate or iron sulphate. 

Take of powdered ivory drop-black and Vandyke 
brown equal parts and make into paste with alcohol; 
make it a stiff mass, after which add a little shellac 
varnish, then it will be ready for thinning. 

Add a little Bismarck brown to nigrosine black, 
and add water to reduce to a stain. Or use alcohol 
in place of water, if you wish, for this will prevent 
raising of grain. The shellac is a binder for the 
stain and also gives a semidead finish without further 
finish. For red oak make a stain more on the blue- 
black order. An oilstain may be made from Vandyke 
and drop-black in oil, thinned with equal parts of oil 
and turpentine, or with only turpentine, or with 
benzine and driers. 


Bog Oak.—Dissolve 2 ounces of permanganate of 
potash in 1 quart of boiling water; when cold add 
to it 1 ounce of verdigris that has been dissolved in 
vinegar or acetic acid. To deepen the color add 
more verdigris; to lighten, add potash solution. 

To make bog oak on white oak, dissolve an ounce 
of verdigris in a pint of ammonia-water. 

Mix a pound of burnt umber, dry, and 2 ounces of 
chemically pure chrome green, light shade, dry, 
with a gallon of 95 per cent. alcohol, and shake 


138 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


occasionally; after standing twenty-four hours add 
a pint of shellac varnish, and strain through a fine- 
meshed sieve. 


Mission Oak.—Break up 2 pounds of drop-black, 
ground in oil, and add an ounce of rose pink, in oil, 
with 4 pint of the best brown japan, thinning the 
mass with 3 pints of turpentine, and then straining 
it through cheese-cloth. Colors ground in japan 
give a quicker drying stain, but in such case omit 
the brown japan and use instead a little varnish for 
a binder. A gill of copal will do. 

Here is a similar process: Mix together boiled oil 
and asphaltum varnish in equal proportions. It is 
applied with a brush, as a stain. In a few minutes 
rub it off with a cloth, removing surplus stain, and 
then, when dry, it may be varnished. 


Flemish Oak.—The wood is not to be filled, and 
the stain is black. Nigrosine black makes the stain, 
and for quick work, as for picture-frame makers, 
alcohol may be used to thin with. Two coats can 
then be applied within an hour. 

Or thin up some japan black with turpentine, with 
a little coach varnish for a binder. Or, dissolve 
4 ounces of seal brown aniline in 1 gallon of boiling 
water, and when cold add 4 ounces of strong vinegar. 
It requires several coats of this to give a black of 
some depth. Nigrosine black may be used in place 
of seal brown. 


The Imitation of Woods with Stains 139 


Light and Dark Oaks.—A light oak stain may be 
made with 2 pounds of raw sienna and 4 pound of 
raw umber. Both to be ground in oil. Thin with 
2 quarts each of boiled oil and turpentine, with also 
1 quart of japan. 

Dark oak may be made from burnt umber alone, or 
with raw umber, or with burnt umber and raw sienna. 


Golden Oak.—One of the best golden oak stains 
may be made from equal parts of gold size Japan and 
best asphaltum varnish, thinning with turpentine. 
This stain will not raise the grain of the wood, and 
it dries hard. Wipe off stain soon after application. 

Asphaltum itself is the best of golden or dark oak 
stains, as far as color goes, but it does not act well 
under the varnish finish. 

A spirit stain may be made by steeping an ounce 
of powdered nutgalls in a pint of alcohol; cork it and 
let stand three days.. Then strain it. It should 
be quite black. Now dissolve $ ounce of Bismarck 
brown in 3 pint of alcohol and add it to the first 
solution; then add a teaspoonful of tin chloride to it, 
and enough alcohol to make it amount to 1 quart. 
If the Bismarck brown makes the color too red, use 
a solution of saffron in alcohol instead. 

A water-stain golden oak may be made with 1 
pound of burnt umber and 3 pound of raw sienna, 
both in powder form or dry. Mix with a gallon of 
water, then add a gill of strong ammonia-water, of 
about 28 degrees strength. 


140 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


Antwerp Oak.—Dissolve nigrosine black in water, 
and add a little Bismarck brown. ‘The flakes should 
show a coffee color or brown, with the grain black. 


Gray Oak.—Silver-gray is a well-liked color in the 
mission finishes, and here is about the best formula 
for making it: Dissolve 4 ounces of copperas and 
the same of nutgalls, powdered, in 1 quart of hot 
water; then add enough cold water to make 2 gallons 
of stain. If the wood is a poor grade, add a little 
glycerine to keep down the grain. Then sandpaper 
lightly, and apply a thin coat of white shellac, and 
fill with a filler made from white lead thinned a little 
with turpentine. Before the filler becomes dry, 
wipe off across the grain and get as much filler into 
the pores of the wood as possible. Here is a method 
that was followed in a public institution: The raw 
wood was stained with a thin solution made from 
equal parts of raw oil and turpentine, staining this 
with a little raw sienna and raw umber. It was ap- 
plied very thin, and at once wiped off. When it was 
dry the pores of the wood were filled with a grayish- 
white filler or heavy white lead paint, thinned with tur- 
pentine, and when nearly dry, or set, it was rubbed 
off with excelsior or cotton waste. The white-filled 
pores gave to the work the silvery appearance of oak. 

A very fine bluish-gray stain may be made from 
a solution of iron sulphate, the color depending on 
the strength of the solution and the tannin content 
of the wood. : 


The Imitation of Woods with Stains 141 


Close-grained hard woods do not require the paste 
filler for getting the silver-gray effect, and, moreover, 
as the woods of this class are mostly maple and white 
birch, they are white enough to take acid stain and 
produce the delicate silvery effect desired. Further, 
it may be accepted that as a rule only the hard woods 
are suitable for this effect. Yet we get some fine 
results on gum wood using the white filler and stain, 
only the stain is applied first, before the filler, without 
a coat of shellac between. The idea is to have the 
stain and filler to meet. Do not get the filler too 
thin, as you would do with an open-pore wood. Gum 
does not ridge up like yellow pine when acid stain is 
applied, at least not to any appreciable extent. 
What is said here of yellow pine may also be said of 
other soft woods. The effect is that of a silvery 
marbled gray, which is even more distinctive than 
the same effect seen on some of the woods usually 
employed in silver-gray staining. 


STAINING WICKERWARE AND WILLOW FURNITURE 


The maker of such goods steeps the willows several 
hours in lime-water, after which he dries them in a 
heat up to 100° F. After this and before they become 
cold they are steeped in a stain, brown being the 
most commonly used, though many other stains also 
are employed. 


Brown Stain.—Dissolve 1 ounce of permanganate 
of potash in 5 pints of water, using this proportion 


142 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


for greater quantities, and dip the willows in it, lift 
them out at once, and let them drain off. This 
stain is a pale brown, but the color may be had much 
darker by allowing the willows to remain longer in 
. the stain. 

Or, dissolve 35 ounces of catechu and the same 
amount of soda crystals in 5 pints of boiling water; 
steep the wickerware in this fluid for three or four 
hours; take out and let dry; then steep it in a solution 
of 5 ounces of bichromate of potash in 5 pints of 
water. 

Or, dissolve 45 ounces of potash in 5 pints of water; 
steep the willows or wickerware in the fluid for two 
hours, then boil for two hours in a boiling solution 
of pyrogallic acid made by dissolving 25 ounces of 
the acid in 5 pints of water. 

Blue: Dissolve 2 ounces of indigo-carmine in 1 
quart of water; soak the ware in the fluid for five or 
six hours. 

Green: Dissolve 2 ounces of indigo sulphate and 
1 ounce of picric acid in 50 ounces of boiling water. 
Steep the ware in this fluid for several hours. Differ- 
ent tones of green may be obtained by altering the 
relative proportions of the coloring matters. 

Yellow: Dissolve 1 ounce of picric acid in 5 
quarts of boiling water, and steep the ware in it for 
two hours. : 

The above bright colors may be obtained on clean 
new stock, the wood being white. Old wickerware 
can be done as described below. 


The Imitation of Woods with Stains 143 


Gray: In the case of new wickerware it will be 
found that by coloring it a gray the dirt and grime 
will not show so readily as where the wood is left 
unstained. A good gray may be obtained by dis- 
solving 45 ounces of iron sulphate in 74 pints of cold 
water; steep the ware in this for from two to six 
hours, and then, after drying, steep in a solution of 
15 pounds of pyrogallic acid in 5 pints of water. 


Staining Old Wickerware.—Dissolve 15 pounds of 
aniline nitrate and 1 ounce of copper chloride in 
95 gallons of water. Boil the ware in this fluid for 
an hour, then. place it in a boiling hot solution of 
bichromate of potash for one-half hour, using 84 
ounces of bichromate to the gallon of water. Or 
this: Boil 25 ounces of logwood extract in 123 pints 
of water containing 1/5 ounce’ of alum. Filter or 
strain the fluid, and steep the wicker in it for from 
two to six hours. Keep the liquid at the boiling- 
point all the time, then remove the ware and let it 
dry. Then steep it in a boiling hot solution of 15 
ounces of iron sulphate in 74 pints of water for from 
two to four hours, which will give a more or less 
bluish-black with a gray cast; but by steeping it in 
a decoction of 13 ounces of copper sulphate in 1% 
gallons of water a deeper black will result. 


Aniline Dyes—These are much more effective 
than the mineral colors, for they do not require 
steeping. They dye the wood at once. And they 


144 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


may be applied with a sponge or brush. For very 
bright colors the anilines are far superior. The 
wood should be mordanted with a solution of 6 ounces 
of Castile soap, or any good white soap, in 123 pints 
-of water; let the wood soak in this. Remove and 
dry. Use water-soluble anilines, with water not less 
than 86° F., and not above 140° F. Stir the dye well, 
and dip the ware in it until you get the desired depth 
of color. As the dye becomes weaker strengthen it 
with some fresh-made dye. | 

Dark Blue: Dissolve 3 ounces of Bengal blue in 
35 pints of boiling water, and stir and filter the fluid 
in ten minutes’ time. 

Light Blue: Dissolve 3 ounces of Bleu de Lumiere 
in 4 gallon of boiling water. 

Sky Blue: Dissolve 3 ounces of Bleu de Ceil in 
+ gallon of water. 

Greenish Blue: Dissolve 3 ounces of Bleu de 
Vert in a gallon of water. 

Dark Green: Dissolve 3 ounces of methyl green 
and = ounce of Bleu de Lumiere in $ gallon of hot 
water. 

Light Green: Dissolve an ounce of methyl green 
in 1 pint of boiling water. 

Red: Dissolve 3 ounces of coral red in 5 pints of 
water. 

Dark Red: Dissolve 3 ounces of fuchsine and 
1 ounce of orange in 3 pints of water. 

Rose Red: Dissolve 3 ounces of rose Bengal in 
5 pints of water. 


The Imitation of Woods with Stains 145 


Violet: Dissolve 3 ounces of methyl violet in 
+ gallon of water. 

Reddish Violet: Dissolve 3 ounces of methyl 
violet and 1 ounce of fuchsine in 2 quarts of water. 

Golden Yellow: Dissolve 3 ounces of naphthaline 
yellow in 2 quarts of water. 

Brown: Dissolve 3 ounces of Bismarck brown in 
+ gallon of water. 

Chestnut Brown: Dissolve an ounce of maroon in 
1 pint of water. 

The quantities mentioned in these formulas give 
a very strong stain, and if more is used than that 
indicated the result will be a bronzing. As the 
stains are used for successive dippings they become 
weaker, and must be renewed by fresh dye. 

The stained wickerware is finished with a coat of 
lacquer, made and fused as follows: First dip the 
article in a thin size of glue or gelatin, which must 
be kept hot. This will close the pores of the ware 
and give a foundation for the lacquer. For white 
stock use white shellac; for dark, a mixture of white 
and orange shellac. Some use copal varnish, but 
shellac is better, as it is more flexible and less inclined 
to crack; the addition of a little Venice turpentine 
to it will increase the flexibility. For black work the 
dark shellac is used. 


Staining Willowware Furniture—The stain will 
take more uniformly if the goods are mordanted with 
this preparation: Take 9 ounces of chloride of lime 


146 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


and 1 ounce of soda crystals and dissolve in 5 pints 
of water. Several coats of this will be necessary, 
allowing each coat to dry before the next is given. 
Then apply a weak solution of sulphuric acid and 
“rinse at once with water. Let it dry. Use an 
alcohol aniline stain, but water stain may also be 
used, in which case apply it hot. 

Experience alone can make one successful in stain- 
ing wickerware successfully. So do not despair if 
you are not entirely successful at first. 


VARIOUS STAINING NOTES 


There are many color effects in woods still popular, 
while many others have fallen by the wayside. Of 
the former there are the following: 

Oak: Natural finish, light and dark antique, 
golden oak in various shades, forest green, Flemish, 
weathered, cathedral, fumed, Antwerp, brown, etc. 

Ash: Natural, light and dark antique, golden oak 
or brown and black tones, and all colors that are used 
on oak. 3 

Birch: Natural, mahogany, forest green, and 
silver gray. 

Mahogany: Tuna, light and dark effects, all 
shades, and old mahogany. 

Walnut: Natural and dark. 

Cherry: Similar to birch finishes. 

Chestnut: Similar to oak finishes. 

Maple: Natural, pearl gray, silver gray, and all 
shades of mahogany. - 


The Imitation of Woods with Stains 147 


Cypress, Pine, and White Wood: Natural, oak, 
mahogany liquid filler, golden oak, Flemish and 
Antwerp shades, brown oak, forest green, green 
weathered, etc. 

California Redwood: Similar to pine finishes. 


The Grays in Oaks.—Oak grays are not new, of 
course, though still popular. They appear to have 
originated with the St. Louis Exposition of several 
years ago, the German section there having exhibited 
a good deal of it. Apparently this coloring did not 
prove successful, but finally it caught the popular 
fancy. It was first used most on maple wood, and 
there were silver-gray finishes prior to the St. Louis 
Exposition, and it is likely that it has been in use a 
good many years. Gray is a cold color and, of 
course, is not a winter color, but does best in connec- 
tion with summer furnishings. 


To Ebonize Piano Keys.—The keys should be 
stained clear through, and only steam pressure or by 
boiling, using extract of logwood and bichromate of 
potash, if the wood is birch, for it does not seem to be 
satisfactory on other kinds of wood. Hard maple 
polishes better than birch, and is a better wood for 
keys, but for some reason it does not take the stain 
well. In boiling the wood it must first be soaked in 
cold water for several hours, as by this method it 
takes the stain better and does not split. 


148 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


Finishing Birch Veneers—TYhey should first be 
sponged, to raise the grain, and when dry be sand- 
papered lightly. This will have removed most of 
_the grain liable to rise. Then apply a coat of stain 
that is a little lighter than the tone the finish will be. 
If any rise of grain shows on this, again lightly sand- 
paper, after which it may be coated with the final 
stain. When birch has been stained it should be 
filled, to avoid pinholes, using a light filler. 


Bleaching Wood.—When it is necessary to bleach 
wood for staining purposes prepare oxalic solution for 
the purpose in the following manner: Dissolve oxalic 
acid in hot water, making the solution strong, and 
apply it at once, or while hot. The addition of 
acetic or strong vinegar improves its bleaching 
properties. Be careful with it, as oxalic acid is rank 
poison. If you save any of the solution, put it in 
a bottle, stopper it tight, and lable it, Oxatic Aclb— 
POISON. 


To Make Brown Mahogany.—Make the stain light 
enough to give a clear, transparent color; do not 
get it too dark. The stain may be prepared by 
dissolving walnut crystals in hot water, about 150° F. 
Place the crystals in hot water and stir well, as the 
crystals are liable to melt into a gummy mass, making 
it difficult to get it dissolved properly. The stain is 
to be used cold only. 

The usual way of preparing stain is to pour the 
hot water on the stain, but it is different with walnut 


The Imitation of Woods with Stains 149 


crystals. There is a shade of brown mahogany on 
the market that has met with favor; it is rather 
duller than that produced by walnut crystals, but 
for that reason seems to be more admired. It is 
more difficult to make, however. First dissolve 6 
ounces of bichromate of potash in 6 quarts of water. 
With this solution coat the wood and let it stand 
until dry. Then take 8 ounces of English oak powder, 
5 ounces of brown mahogany powder, and 25 ounces 
of nigrosine black; dissolve these in 6 quarts of water. 
First sandpaper the wood lightly, to remove the fuzz 
made by the first stain, then apply an even coat of 
the latter stain. 


Staining Mahogany.—Practically all mahogany 
that is used in furniture, etc., is stained. Many 
admire the rich color of the natural wood effect, and 
which grows darker and richer with passing time; it 
is the same with walnut wood. Sometimes mahogany 
is stained in such a manner that it is not recognizable 
except by its characteristic grain, and in some cases 
it is darkened to a fair resemblance to the natural 

dark color of black walnut; at other times it is given 
a strong green tint. Such treatment of such a fine 
wood is savage, nothing less. Fads, that is all; they 
run a short course and we get back again to normal. 
Properly done, mahogany is stained to deepen and 
bring out artificially and in a brief time the natural 
beauty of the wood, and which develops still further 
with the lapse of time. 


150 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


Stuining Curly Woods.—In former times the object 
in staining the curly woods was to give them a bright 
color; beech, sycamore, and birch were stained to 
imitate mahogany, or to give them a reddish tone. 
This high coloring was used on poplar also. The 
practice today is productive of more pleasing effects, 
as it tends to the brown tones, or walnut colors, which 
are far more satisfactory than the flashy colors. As 
to the curly woods, we should try to develop their 
natural beauty, and to use only such stains as will 
bring out and emphasize, not make obscure, those 
natural beauties of wood. 

The lighter woods, like magnolia, poplar, and 
gum, have been in the past used more for staining to 
secure effects than any other way. It would seem, 
too, that there has been too much staining to get 
one wood to look like another, instead of trying to 
emphasize and bring out the natural beauty of each. 
Maple seems to have escaped the fate of the others, 
as it has always been duly appreciated for its natural 
beauty of creamy white, and the curly maple, like 
the bird’s-eye, has suffered less from excess of staining 
than any other of the light colored woods. 


Peon THE THIRD 


THE ART OF IMITATING MARBLE 
Chapter XIII 


DESCRIPTION OF TOOLS AND MATERIALS 


To become a success at marbling one must first of 
all be a painter, then a grainer, for there is both 
painting and graining to be done in this fine art. 
This is why both graining and marbling usually, and 
justly enough, come together in a book of instructions 
like this. While both grainer and marbler may be 
excellent workmen at those arts, without ever having 
laid a brushful of paint on the groundwork, yet it is 
better that he should be an expert painter, and be 
able to lay his own grounds, or at least know what they 
should be in the finish. 

As with graining, it is essential to good work that 
the ground be of the proper color and texture, that 
it be level or even and smooth. Certain kinds of 
wood, white pine, for instance, have knots and dark 
streaks, and these must be prevented from ever 
showing through, to spoil the marbled work. Shellac 
may be used to kill the knots, and also some of the 
streaks, sap, etc., while certain dark parts, seen in 

I5I 


152 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


some other woods, may be removed with acid. In 
fine, the idea is to make a sure foundation for the 
grained or marbled, or marbleized, as some say, 
grounds. Upon this, then, is to be applied sufficient 
white lead paint to form a good surface. All white 
lead used in marbling must be the very finest and best 
grade. Sometimes other surfaces than wood are 
used for marbling on, and in such cases the surface 
must be properly filled; plaster with any suitable 
size, aS used under ordinary painting, and such as 
varnish, etc. 

It may as well be said at the start that marbling 
cannot be learned from reading books of instruction. 
But the book will give you the essential facts that 
you need in order to make any sort of start and head- 
way. It will tell you how to prepare the work, what 
colors to use for each kind of marble, what tools to 
use, how to use them, how to mix the colors, and 
so on, but, on the other hand, you must have samples 
of the work you are to do, prepared by an expert, 
or samples of the marble itself, and which is the 
better plan. This latter is, of course, not easy to do, 
but it can be done. It is easy enough to get samples 
of wood for graining from, but not impossible to study 
natural specimens of many kinds of beautiful mar- 
bles and granites. Many public buildings have 
both these as a part of their construction or decoration, 
and a few hours spent in an occasional study thereof 
will repay the time and labor involved. You will 
not be expected in any case to make an absolutely 


Description of Tools and Materials 153 


exact copy of a marble, either in color, texture, or 
markings. If you succeed in producing a copy that 
anybody would pronounce a fair imitation that will. 
suffice. | 

Marbling is done in oil colors, seldom in water 
colors, because the effect sought is that of solidity 
and opaqueness. There must be depth and translu- 
cency effected by means of glazes. 

The tools required for marbling are blenders of 
both bristle and soft hair, flat camel’s hair brushes 
in several sizes, fitches, goose-wing feathers, sponges, 
and some sash tools. 

The colors used come in tubes, and the following 
is a complete list of them, enough of a variety to do 
about every marble or granite in common use: 

Black, blue-black, Prussian blue, Vandyke brown, 
Indian red, Brunswick green, raw and burnt umber, 
raw and burnt sienna, King’s yellow, yellow ochre, 
Venetian red, ultramarine blue, vermilion, purple 
lake, carmine, crimson lake, and the chrome yellows. 
This gives a wide range of colors. Then the various 
mixed colors or tints, etc., may be made from them 
by adding one to another. Also by adding certain 
colors together he can get certain other colors that 
are on his list and which he may therefore do without, 
However, it is better for the beginner to have all the 
tube colors ready for use rather than to attempt to 
make any himself. But it should be told here how 
certain colors may be made by admixture, for use 
when the learner has got so far: 


154 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


Original color 


Yellow 
Yellow 
Carmine 


Carmine 
Yellow 
Carmine 
Azure Blue 
Violet 


Chinese Blue 
Chinese Blue 


Burnt Umber 
Burnt Sienna 


Mixed with 
Carmine 
Dark Red 
Blue 


Yellow and Black 
Black 

White 

White and Carmine 
White 


White 

Indigo and Orange 
Yellow 

Scarlet Lake 

Shaded with Lake 


Produces 
Scarlet 
Vermilion 
Deep Lilac 
Violet 
Purple 
Rich Brown 
Bronze Green 
Pink Shades 
Deep Lilac Tones 
Pale Lilac or Lav- 

ender 
Pale Blue 
Tones of Emerald 

Green 
Red Brown 
Light Brown 


Crayons are useful in this work, and in Chapter XI 
you will find directions for making them. ‘The 
crayons are useful in making the veins, and the 
colors most useful are gray and red. However, the 
beginner will find the brush tools sufficient for all his 
purposes for a while at least. 

The first study you will take up will be regarding 
the general color of the marble you are to imitate, 
then its character, and transparency. In other 
words, you are to know the marble as a marble, and 
not simply as an artistic quality. It is not so easy 
to get the right color of a marble with oil color, for 
when you place your mixing near the marble you 
find such a difference of effect, the oily sheen of the 
one, and the dead appearance of the other, will be 
entirely different, though, in reality, they should be 


Description of Tools and Materials 155 


the same, the colors you have used being approxi- 
mately the colors that nature put into the stone. 
Experience alone will give you the power to match the 
marbles in color, and one of the best ways for the 
inexperienced is to paint a piece of wood or oilcloth, 
or whatever may serve, and hold it on a plane with 
the marble, this being the idea of an expert. 

As to the colors, the best effects are to be gained 
by glazing, not by mixing color with lead. Glazing 
is a very important thing in graining and marbling, 
as you will soon discover. Try to mix a rich lake or 
brilliant blue with white lead and note the result— 
the colors are killed. Then it is to be noted that 
the staining powers of colors vary; some, like the 
blacks, Prussian blue and burnt sienna, are very 
strong; while Naples yellow and a few other colors 
found on the marbler’s palette are very weak. 

In giving directions for marbling the terms “‘scumb- 
ling” and “glazing”? must be used, and it is well at 
the beginning to explain the meaning of the words. 
The term “glazing” is better known to the painter 
and grainer than that of “scumbling.” Glazing is 
done with a clear, transparent liquid, applied very 
thin and capable of showing the figures beneath, and 
the colors to less extent. Obviously, only trans- 
parent colors can be used for glazing with. Scumbling 
consists in the application of color that is rather thick 
or stiff, after which it is brushed out unevenly so as 
to show. variety of surface, in some places being al- 
most entirely removed, in others partially removed, 


156 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


and in still other parts being left heavy and dense. 
This produces a mottled effect, called scumbling. 
Artists use the process sometimes, the term applying 
also to the softening of crayon lines, where blending 
may be done by the finger or with a brush. 


Sienna Marble.—This is one of the favorite marbles 
- for imitating, and comes from Italy. It is found in 
light and medium dark shades. Its general color 
is on a buff order and the color occurs in patches over 
the surface of the marble; these patches are marked 
by veins of purplish color, some inclining to a red 
purple. Some specimens have veins that are quite 
black, while others have a rather reddish tone. The 
rule is, the richer the color of the ground, the less 
pronounced the veins are. It is well to remember 
this. 

In making the ground for this marble experts do 
not follow the same formulas, some preparing a 
ground from white lead 6 parts and raw sienna 2 
parts; or for a darker marble 3 parts of sienna. Some 
prefer a ground of white, made from white lead 
thinned with raw oil 2 parts and turpentine 1 part, 
with driers sufficient to dry properly. Raw sienna 
is a poor self-drier. Others use a light buff ground, 
made from white lead, yellow ochre, and a very 
little vermilion. The purpose of the white ground 
is to provide the white that is necessary to form parts 
of the marble, which show white, other parts being 
of the buff order. 


Description of Tools and Materials 157 


In the thinning also there are differences, some 
using two-thirds turpentine to one of oil, while others 
use half and half. 

After getting your ground done and dry, allowing 
a few days for this, proceed to the work of marbling. 

Taking the white ground, put in irregular dabs or 
patches of a color made from white lead tinted with 
raw sienna, making various light and medium shades 
of the color. The veins may then be put in with 
charcoal or with a black crayon. I forgot to say 
that after dabbing in the yellow patches they should 
be lightly blended together. 

The black veins must then be blended in with the 
badger blender, to soften them into the ground. 
_ Instead of the yellow patches of color in some speci- 
mens of Sienna marble there will be dark patches, 
and in such case a lighter vein must be used. Then 
glazes or raw or burnt sienna may be used over the 
yellow patches, then touch up the black veins with a 
little black or blue. Now run some white veins, 
and small spots may be put in over all the work, 
blending, of course, for all the work must be made 
solid looking, as seen in the real marble. 

There is another way: Put in patches of various 
tones of buff color, making them rather angular than 
irregular, and making some of the patches quite a 
buff, showing a tinge of red. Such colors as these 
can be made from yellow ochre and Venetian red. 
The parts outside of the buffish patches may be done 
with blue-black and Indian red, after which the 


158 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


work may be blended. Let it dry, then glaze with 
raw or burnt sienna, or raw sienna and yellow ochre. 
Broad veins occur, of course, and these may be put 
in with the fitch bristle brush. Blend, of course. 
Veins that are not sufficiently distinct must be touched 
up, flake white on the white veins, and blue-black or 
Prussian blue on the black veins; blend. 

It should be stated that marbles of the same name 
differ greatly according to place of origin, or the 
quarry whence taken, hence in laying down instruc- 
tions this fact reminds us that to cover the ground 
of the subject one would have to give directions 
applicable to each variety; moreover, the character 
and figuring of a marble will vary according to the 
way it is split or sawn. However, directions given 
in this work will be found sufficient for the purpose, 
for when you meet with sienna marble differing from 
that which you have been imitating you will know at 
once what colors to use in order to match them. 
The directions given in this work are from other 
works and articles written by experts in the line, and 
all have been carefully edited and, when necessary, 
corrected. This gives a better understanding of the 
subject than anything that one man alone could give; 
for, as we have already seen, workmen differ in 
method and color ideas. 

Here is a method that is from an expert grainer 
and marbler, little known, but his tiny book gives 
much practical instruction. In practising it is 
advised that the learner try each of the methods 


Description of Tools and Materials 159 


given, for in this manner he will learn various useful 
things and also form an individual manner of doing 
the work, composite work, let us call it. 

He makes his ground from white lead 6 parts and 
raw sienna 2 parts, thinning with equal parts of raw 
oil and turpentine, with a little drier. For tools he 
uses a piped overgrainer (no other authority seems 
to advise this tool) with some small pencil brushes, 
lettering sable brushes the best for the purpose, and 
a blender. His colors he places on a board palette; 
they are oil colors. They are as follows: Burnt 
and raw sienna, raw umber, green and blue. The 
green, blue, and raw sienna he uses sparingly. The 
thinners are composed of 1 part of a quick-drying 
varnish and 3 parts of turpentine. Remembcring 
that the ground is white, he dips the piped over- 
grainer in the green and raw sienna, first, however, 
having dipped the overgrainer in the thinners, and 
then puts the colors on the ground, then brushes 
tiem out to a mere glaze. The color is placed 
diagonally, not straight up and down. The colors 
may be varied with a little blue or umber. While 
the color is still wet, touch the work with a pencil 
or over-grainer with the design of forming dots 
or pebbles, but this must not be overdone. Around 
the pebbled parts of the work, especially the large 
parts, do the veins, around the pebbles, and over 
the work that is done with intersecting lines or 
veins. 

- Another method is given by another expert: The 


160 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


ground is white, and two colors are used, one being 
mixed with white lead and yellow ochre, and the 
other with white lead tinted with vermilion, both 
being light in tone. Use two brushes, one to a color. 
While the white paint is wet, dab on these two pale 
colors, and blend at once. Vein the wet colors at 
once, using the pencil, which dip in turpentine and 
the black or blue-black. ‘The color for the veins is 
to be used thin, and then to be softened with the 
badger; then another penciling with the black, thin 
as before, which will then emphasize the veins. Then 
take a camel’s-hair fitch and dip into a thin mixture 
of purple lake, blue-black, and turpentine. With this 
give some of the open spaces a wash of color, then 
blend softly. When this is dry take a sable pencil 
and form white lines, using white lead thinned with 
turpentine; then blend. When the work is dry enough 
it may be given a coat of varnish. 

In the case of the buff colored ground an irregular 
vein is placed across the work, using a feather, dipped 
in turpentine and then in a mixed color of Indian red 
and ivory drop-black, shading here and there with 
white. Fine veins run from these main veins, and 
others also are made with Indian red and Prussian 
blue, mixed with white, using the feather, as before. 
Blend softly, and let it dry. Then rub the work over 
with a rag wet with raw oil. Then touch up with 
white on the feather, blend, and finally glaze, using 
one made from raw sienna and yellow ochre, with a 
touch of crimson lake here and there. The principal 


Description of Tools and Materials 161 


veins may be touched with ivory drop-black, using 
a hair pencil. 

As illustrating the differences of both color and 
formation seen among various samples of Sienna 
marble, the annexed cuts are offered, both being photo 
reproductions of imitations that were copies of the 
real marbles. The two might easily be taken for 
distinct kinds. Figure 22 has a white ground or 
pale straw color, as preferred. On this ground is 


Fig. 21.—Sienna marble. 


scumbled a color made from white lead and raw 
sienna, and a deeper color, buff, made from yellow 
ochre and Venetian red. ‘The colors are used rather 
thin, so as to scumble well, and a brush or sash tool 
is used to spread them about, making a cloudy effect, 
but a very pale effect. The illustration shows 
scarcely any scumbling, but it is there. Then the 
feather is dipped in turpentine and worked among 
these colors, to break them up and make a ground 
for the veins, which are made with Indian red, white, 


162 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


and slate color. Some of the open spaces shown 
are done in the light thin color, and some with the 
darker color. The illustration shows how the veins 
run and are arranged. i 

A very good piece of advice has been given by an 
expert regarding the formation of the veins and 
masses seen in Sienna, as well as other marbles. 


Fig. 22.—Sienna marble. 


Large spaces should be left with a few fine veins and 
distribute the cloudy parts in irregular masses. Avoid 
formal figures; natural marble seldom shows circular, 
square, or straight veins. Avoid geometric forms. 


Carrara or White Marble-—Carrara marble, famous 
as a statuary marble, does not show any veins in its 


Description of Tools and Materials 163 


finest specimens, but some does show veins, with 
faint, delicate markings, some varieties showing 
delicate veins of a reddish-gray tint. These veins 
result from the presence of mica in the marble, and 
are imitated with similar markings, faint veins crossed 
by deeper veins. To get the desired depth and 
transparency it is generally the custom to lay one 
color over another, sort of glazing. But the better 
way is to remove the coating of the veins without 
disturbing the surrounding color, and this may be 
done with a soap composition, a little oil or fat mixed 
with the soap, and laid on the veins, first adding a 
little color to the mixture so as to indicate place, and 
in such manner that with a feather or pencil go over 
the ground where the veins are to go. Then the 
body color is laid over this, and when it is dry and 
hard the soap pencilings are removed by rubbing the 
ground with a rag and turpentine. ‘This is considered 
an excellent means for getting depth and transparency. 

A common and easy method of making white 
marble imitations is as follows: Make the ground 
white, as has been previously explained, and when 
dry apply a coating of zinc white ground in oil; this 
coat is made quite thin, and driers added sufficiently 
to dry it in reasonable time; zinc is very hard to dry. 
Then while the zinc paint is wet make the fainter 
veins and markings with a warm gray crayon, the 
larger and darker ones with a black crayon. Then 
blend the crayon work softly into the white ground, 
and it is done. A nice variation may be made by 


164 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


lightly tinting the spaces between the veins with 
gray and green, with also a few touches of yellowish 
gray, after which use the blender. Apply the color 
sparingly. 

Here is a better method than the one just given, 
as it will give greater appearance of depth, etc. The 
ground is white, with perhaps a mere speck of blue 
to make it appear whiter. Use ultramarine blue and 
be careful to not get too much in. Perhaps it would 
be better for the beginner to avoid it. The ground 
is left then to become dry. Observe the tint of the 
marble, and with white, black, and Indian red make 
a color that will agree with the natural color seen in 
the marble. Take the sable pencil now and put in 
the broad veins, scumbling the color very thinly in 
the form the vein should be. There are other veins 
that appear above the one just done, and these must 
be made to appear near the surface, the lines being 
made very thin, and as they are a little darker than 
the first or deeper vein they must be made so with a 
little drop-black added to the other color. Still 
another vein is to be drawn, running in the same 
direction that the other runs, and must be made 
darker, with black and a little blue. All veins are 
made while the veins are all still wet, and are blended 
together with the badger blender. 


Black and Gold Marble.—This should be a very easy 
marble for the beginner to imitate, and if he will 
give it the proper time and study he will soon be able 


Description of Tools and Materials 165 


to turn out some good work, better most likely than 
some specimens seen at exhibits of such work. As 
with all other marbles, the learner should see some 
good specimens of the real marble, which he can do 
in almost any city. The real marble will show very 
fine veins connecting the various splotches of yellow, 


lhe, PRP 


and the whole work is quite delicate. An expert 
tells us that he prefers this black and gold marble 
to any other that he has to do. He says also that it 
should be called black and yellow, as there is no gold 
seen in it. The bright golden yellow veins seen in 
it gave rise to its name. But gold veins can be put 
in, and some do use them. One way is to lay the 
gold leaf and paint over it, and when the paint has 


166 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


set to take a whittled piece of wood—the end of a 
sash tool handle will do—and scratch out the desired 
lines, the gold showing through. But it is a rather 
troublesome job, and beginners are advised to not 
try it. Gold-leaf might be used in this way on small 
panels, and when.dry and hard the whole may be 
coated with a slow-drying black, after which the veins 
may be formed by pieces of rubber or the edge of 
wood, as previously stated. 

This marble has a black ground, and yellow spots 
are formed here and there, the yellow being a buff 
made from white lead, ochre, and burnt and raw 
sienna. ‘The real marble shows large masses of color, 
and these are connected together with delicately 
penciled lines. The patches of color are put on with 
the sash tool, and their placing is done rather care- 
lessly like, or not studied. While the general charac- 
ter of the ground is a dense black, yet there are parts 
made to have a slate color, choosing a dark slate, so 
that the difference may not seem so great between 
the black and it. This slate color may be made by 
working in a trifle of white on the black ground, here 
and there, and blending together. You will also 
find in the real marble white veins that cross the 
yellow patches, and that they are very fine, mere 
threads of color. As to the lead color spots, it should. 
be said, while I think of it, that not too many of them 
should be made. 

A variegated ground gives very good results too. 
This ground is laid with patches of yellow and white. 


Description of Tools and Materials 167 


When dry it is coated over with the black, taking 
out the veins with stick or rubber; for the large 
masses the rubber is best. When this has become 
dry, parts of the work are glazed with a very thin 
wash of burnt sienna. The expert giving this plan 
says of it that “the finest possible work and most 
nearly imitating nature’s best, may be obtained by 
this method.” In fact, there are several ways of 
imitating this marble. 

A simple method is to lay the ground with drop- 
black, let it dry, then make the veins with a color 
made from white lead, yellow ochre, raw and burnt 
sienna, using a camel’s-hair brush to apply it. Then 
glaze the spaces between the veins with white or 
gray, using the color quite thin. Then put in the 
white veins, running over all. 

Another method: Make the ground black. The 
colors are yellow ochre and Venetian red, both light- 
ened a little with white lead and white. Mix the 
color with more turpentine than oil. A large feather 
is a good tool for the purpose of veining, but a large 
sable hair pencil also does well. The feather makes 
work that is less stiff than that done with a brush. 
Do not make the veins to cross each other at nght 
angles; study the natural specimen, where it will be 
seen that the veins grow out of each other. 

When the marble is done it should be varnished. 
If a dark varnish is applied it will cause the work to 
assume a greenish cast. Use a light colored varnish, 
like pale copal, and three coats would be best, the 


168 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


first two being rubbed down with powdered pumice- 
stone and water, with felt rubber. The last coat 
would look best if after being rubbed down it should 
be hand polished. 

There is a blue-and-gold marble also. Its ground 
is a light blue color, and has patches of light blue, 
white lead, and Prussian blue, some parts of the 
ground being left uncoated by these colors. These 
patches of color are softly blended together. Then 
white veins are made to run over the work in ali 
directions; some of the open places are filled in with 
a pale or bright yellow. To finish, the white veins 
are touched up with white. 


Italian Pink Marble——This is simply a variety of 
Italian Sienna marble, has about the same depth of 
tone, but its white markings are stronger. In general 
characteristics it is different from the Sienna only in 
color. The ground is either buff or white, while the 
colors used for the markings are the same as given 
for Sienna. Though so nearly the same as Sienna, 
yet it is well to give a formula for its imitation. The 
ground is white, and when dry it is coated with a 
white lead paint mixed with equal parts of oil and 
turpentine. _Mix separately white lead and ultra- 
marine, and white lead and vermilion. Thin with 
equal parts of oil and turpentine; dab these two 
colors on the wet white ground, using separate 
brushes. Soften with the badger. The markings 
should be copied from the natural marble, and should 


Description of Tools and Materials 169 


be put on with a feather wet in turpentine and 
dipped in Indian red. Blend, and when dry glaze 
with white lead and turpentine, mixed thin. Then 
dip the feather in turpentine and put in white mark- 
ings wherever required. 

Or, upon a white ground apply a thin coating of 
zinc white, which is scumbled over with pinkish 
colors made from yellow ochre and Venetian red, 
and yellow ochre and vermilion. Shade with gray 
tints, put in some purplish-red veins, and finally blend 
all together softly with the badger. Then lay a few 
white veins to cross the deep ones, put some white 
blotches on, with here and there a glaze of rose pink. 


Verde Antique—This fine marble is scarce and 
expensive, being held in high esteem in Italy, and 
was much prized by the ancient Romans and their 
successors of Byzantium. ‘There are several green 
marbles, all worthy of use and imitation. Copper, 
in the form of an oxide or a sulphate, is widely dif- 
fused in the mineral kingdom, and wherever it is 
found in conjunction with the sedimentary rocks it 
imparts a brilliant green coloring to the mineral 
constituents with which it is temporarily amalgam- 
ated. ‘But though such marbles have a prevailing 
tint of green, and are called green marbles, they have 
generally a surface much varied by darker markings, 
and differ much among themselves. Verde antique, 
Egyptian marbles, serpentine, and malachite are the 
principal species. 


170 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


The grainer is fortunate if he has a small sample 
of this marble to work from. And if he comes in 
contact with the marble in public buildings, for 
instance, it would be advisable for him to sketch 
some of the fossil remains which are found in abun- 
dance in it, and also the large and small veins. For 
this purpose he should have a small pocket blank 
book. So varied and so fine are the markings of this 
marble that only by patient study and copying can 
the imitator succeed. | 

Verde antique has a dark green ground with patches 
of white, and sometimes also of black and red. It 
is a species of hard breccia. The first coat of paint 
is to be dark lead, and this, when dry, is to be sand- 
papered smoothly. This is for new wood. On old 
work the first coat, dark lead color, may be dispensed 
with. The first coat, and on which the marbling is 
to begin, is black, which is left to dry. The next 
coat is white, using white lead or flake white, which 
is simply a finer form of white lead. This white is 
water color, mixed with the usual graining thinners, 
vinegar and water, and a little sugar for binder. ‘The 
white is scumbled on thinly, and in doing this you 
must try to copy nature as close as possible. In 
some places the color should be so thin as to be 
scarcely perceptible, and in others nearly opaque in 
the lighter parts. The ground should not, however, 
be entirely covered by the white, which may be laid 
on with a sash tool, forming streaks. Now take some 
lamp black in water color and apply it to all the parts 


Description of Tools and Materials 171 


not covered with white. Certainly, all these parts 
are already covered with black, because the coats of 
black spread over the whole show where the white 
has not been laid on. The purpose of this coating of 
black on the same surface is to give a soft and perfect 
blending. The blending is done with the badger 
while the paint is still wet, blending the edges of the 
color all together, and causing the veins to run into 
each other as seen in nature. 

We should now produce imitations of the fossils, 
which, as a rule, are white in those parts of the stone 
that are black, and black in those parts which are 
white. While the white paint is still wet make the 
black fossils in the white parts by means of a piece 
of wash leather, and removing the color in the from 
you wish the shells or fossils to assume. By this 
means you will leave a thickness of color at the edges 
which will, of course, show, when varnished, much 
lighter than any other portions, and make both the 
light and the dark parts appear more brilliant by the 
contrast. Other shells can be formed, resembling 
circles in convolutions, which are very natural and 
effective. They may be taken out of the white mass 
by cutting a square piece of cork and notching it in 
two or three places. This then should be pressed 
hard upon the surface of the work, at the same time 
rotating it between the finger and the thumb; and 
it will make the circles as natural as if drawn by a 
pencil, or even more so, requiring but a small part 
of the time for the doing. 


172 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


Reference to a specimen of the marble will show 
you the best way of wiping out the white paint so 
as to show the various markings in black. Use for 
doing this a goose feather, with most of the feather 
removed so as to leave some at equal distances. 
Pass this tool over the wet white, and it will take it 
out in irregular waves over the black; and by suddenly 
checking the hand and making it take an irregular 
direction the veins will break and curl as they do in 
nature, appearing with more freedom, fineness, and 
variety than they would in some lines painted with 
the sable brush, the usual method of drawing veins 
in this marble. 

Having made the black fossils found in the white 
parts, next do the white fossils found in the black. 
When the work is dry these may be produced by 
dipping a large hair pencil in the white and carelessly 
dabbing it in various forms and sizes. The white 
which has just been described is water color, but 
some marblers prefer white lead in oil, made very 
thin with turpentine. When the work is sufficiently 
veined and figured it must be left to become dry, 
when it may be glazed. This is usually done with 
water colors—in some places with Prussian blue, in 
others with raw sienna—and part is still left un- 
glazed and merely black and white. Some, if they 
heighten the effect at all, glaze with oil color; but in 
this case the work must be left another day to dry, 
whereas, as in distemper glazing, the colors may be 
varied in any tint and be dry and fit to work in a 


Description of Tools and Materials 172 


few minutes. When the water color is dry the 
feather, prepared as before, may be dipped in whiting 
mixed fine in milk, and the light veins may be carried 
over the water color. The thicker veins may be 
marked with a sable pencil, and likewise a few veins 
of Prussian blue may be made to curl delicately over 
the strong lights. 

All this, done as directed, is the work of a few 
minutes, and, as it dries at once, it is ready for the 
glazing, which is the final. The glaze consists of 
Prussian blue and raw sienna, mixed together, the 
sienna predominating, and when this is applied to the 
white it will appear a fine warm green. Glaze the 
whole of the work with these colors ground in oil, 
and the white, black, and other colors previously 
laid on will appear tinctured with a beautiful green. 

To do this work in water color begin by glazing 
with lampblack, distemper color, using a large 
brush. Cover the ground entirely, put it in boldly 
in large veins or streaks. Then, having ready an- 
other brush with whiting, dash in the white between 
the spaces left by the black. With a duster brush 
blend the white and black together, making the veins 
imperceptibly to run into each other. Next take a 
small sash tool and dip into the black, and on the 
lightest part of the white carelessly dab the black 
in spots of various sizes to represent shells, etc. 
With another brush, with white, dab likewise in the 
black. A flat bristle brush with the hairs separated 
may be dipped in the white and drawn in some 


174 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


irregular veins over the black. As the work is drying 
a vein of pure black may be laid over that part which 
has become gray from its incorporation with the 
white. This should be formed in a very zig-zag 
manner. Let the work now dry. Then apply a thin 
glaze of King’s yellow, in water size, laying it on 
quickly with a light hand. This will prevent the 
water color from absorbing the varnish. The varnish 
may be shellac, pale, add a little Prussian blue and 
raw sienna, forming a green glaze. When the work 
is dry and varnished it will look nearly as well as 
oil-color work, but will not, of course, be as durable, 
especially if not protected. 

The following is a cheap method of imitating Verde 
Antique, useful for cheap purposes: The ground is ~ 
prepared as for oil color, black, and when this is 
dry it is ready to work on. Have some white and 
black prepared in water color, and with sash tools, 
one for each color, lay the white .on in streaks, bold 
and large, leaving spaces between; on these spaces 
the black should be similarly applied, then with the 
badger and before the paint sets soften the work 
together, so that the veins almost imperceptibly run 
into each other. Go over the entire surface in this 
manner. ‘Take a large hair pencil and dip it in the 
white and carelessly dab and dash on the black 
streaks, to imitate, in a rough manner, the fossils. 
With another pencil dipped in the black similar 
markings are made on the white streaks. Then, 
with a thin mottler, or with a feather dipped in the 


Description of Tools and Materials 175 


white, and waved carelessly over the black, the small 
zig-zag’ veins, characteristic of the marble, are put 
in; also some dark blue veins of the same irregular 
character may be added, in a diagonal direction. 
When entirely dry the surface should be gone over 
with a thin glaze of Prussian blue and raw sienna 
mixed in turpentine and some varnish. 


Egyptian Green.—In color this marble closely 
resembles Verde Antique, for which it is often mis- 


Fig. 24.—Egyptian green. 


taken. It is a superior serpentine, comprising 
several varieties, distinquished by different names, 
though the generic title “Egyptian green” is usually 
held to comprehend them all. It differs from Verde 
Antique in the form of its veins, which run in a more 
horizontal direction, having numerous small fossils 


176 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


mixed with them, and also dark veins running in 
streaks, which appear as if broken off in violence. 

Some varieties show gray and some white spots, 
while another will show a reddish ground with clear 
dark veins and a network of white lines. However, 
the methods used in doing one may well be used with 
the other. The method commonly employed to do 
this marble is to scumble chrome yellow, Prussian 
blue, and white lead over the black ground, leaving 
spaces of the black. Fossil spots and rings are then 
added in white, plain or slightly tinted. Glaze as 
indicated for Verde Antique. 


Serpentine—There are two serpentines, one a 
stone or rock, the other, the “‘precious,” so-called, or 
serpentine marble, and the latter has nearly the 
same appearance as the Egyptian green marble. 
The green is generally the color of onion tops, or of 
leeks, but the color varies in shades, some the deepest 
olive color. The veins, which appear black, some- 
times run in a horizontal direction, then break and 
appear nearly upright. In other cases they seem 
to have undergone violent concussion and become 
broken into small pieces. Precious serpentine has 
some transparency and is frequently traversed by 
veins of steatite, which add to its attractiveness, 
making it one of the finest of marbles when polished. 

The method of doing the imitation serpentine 
marble is the same as given for Verde Antique. 
The ground is always black, and the various shades 


Description of Tools and Materials 177 


of green are made by scumbling over the black, more 
or less opaque, according to the color required. 
When all is done, glaze with green, according to the 
tint of the marble. 


Malachite-—This is a carbonate of copper stone. 
It has a fine green color, with variegated radiations 
and zones, these being so banded and arranged that 
the mineral, which takes a bright polish, has a great 
merit for decorative purposes. 

In order to successfully imitate this fine marble 
the learner should study specimens of it, and if he 
can possess a specimen, so much the better. In 
general, the imitation of Malachite may be done as 
- advised for Verde Antique, both as to oil or water- 
color work. In all cases the black should first be 
applied, then the green, which should be bright, 
and be applied either in variegated streaks, or by 
coating the whole of the black surface and combing 
it vertically, while wet, with a wash leather or a 
rubber comb irregularly cut, and having several 
large and bold vacancies. This will leave a surface 
of alternate black and green strips of varied breadths. 
The work is then glazed with green. 


Dove-colored Marble——It closely resembles the 
color of a dove or wood pigeon, hence its name. It 
is rather difficult to imitate, and it is necessary to 
copy from a specimen. The ground is a lead color 
and made very smooth. Apply two or three coats of 


178 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


the paint, smoothing each coat. For the marbling, 
take some of the lead color used on the ground work, 
and thin it with turpentine. Lay some of it on a 
small part of the surface; then with a suitable tool 
stipple over this, to form the fossils seen in the real 
marble. The entire surface must be gone over in 
this manner, and while moist should be blended. 
Next, with the thinned color, used on the ground, 
and a small fitch, put in broad, faint veins and an 
abundant reticulation of fine veins, so that the whole 
surface appears covered with a network of them. 
When this is done add some white lead to the lead 
color, and with a feather dipped in it go over the 
broad veins in the same direction, forming streams 
of threads. Go over this again with thin white 
paint applied with short, thick touches, so as to 
simulate broad but broken veins. When done and 
hard dry, smooth with fine sandpaper, and finish 
by giving it a coat of varnish. 


Jasper Marble-—The ground may be made from 
Venetain red, red lead, and a little chrome yellow, 
ground and thinned with turpentine and raw linseed 
oil equal parts. If greater brilliancy is desired, 
substitute vermilion for the Venetian red. Spread 
the paint evenly and while still wet daub the surface 
over with a bit of sponge dipped in white, so as to 
cover the red surface with white spots, and then blend 
the colors while wet with the badger. Brown, blue, 
or yellow may be applied and be sponged in the same 


Description of Tools and Materials 1709 


manner, and blended while still wet. The work may 
be left at this point, or, when nearly dry, large and 
small white veins and threads may be formed over 
it with a fitch brush or feather. Jasper is found 
both with and without these white veins, so their 
adoption or omission is left to the taste of the painter. 


Italian Jasper.—The ground is a light green drab; 
apply a thin coating of oil cn this, and then rub in 
oval or circular patches of Indian red and Victoria 
lake, mixed together. Between these with a feather 
wetted with turpentine successive tints of olive green 
and gray, after which blend the entire surface. The 
olive green is made with white, raw sienna, and blue- 
_ black; the gray is made with white, Prussian blue, 
and ivory drop-black. Glaze the two tints with a 
thin wash of white, and the darker tints with crimson 
lake. -Finally, touch up with a very thin white, 
put on with the feather. 


Porphyry Marble—This is not a true marble, 
though generally referred to as such. Egyptian 
porphyry, antique red or purple, has a dark crimson 
or chocolate ground, sprinkled with minute crystals. 
Black antique porphyry has a black ground and large 
white crystals. The very rare green variety has a 
dark olive green ground, tending to a blackish-green, 
with whitish-green crystals and occasional bluish- 
gray agates. Brown porphyry has a liver-brown 
ground and greenish-white large spots. 

For the first-named porphyry make the ground 


180 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


with purple, brown, and rose pink. The graining 
colors are vermilion and white lead, ground separately 
in turpentine, with a little gold size as binder; more 
turpentine must be added before the color is applied. 
When the ground is dry, fill a large brush with the 
vermilion, and remove nearly all of it by scraping it 
off with a palette knife over the edge of a paint pot. 
Then, holding a short iron rod, or a piece of broom- 
handle firmly in the left hand, strike the brush 
smartly upon it, which will cause a shower of particles 
of color. These spots must appear very fine on the 
surface of the work. Now repeat the operation with 
the red, then lighten the color a little with white lead, 
and sprinkle again. Finally, give it a shower of white 
lead spots. When the work is dry, place a few white 
veins across it. Some put in the fine spots with a 
graining disk wheel, and such work has greater 
regularity of form than that done by sprinkling. 
Any parts that are not to be spotted will have to be 
protected by paper. This marble may also be done 
in water color, with a coat of varnish for protection; 
it is very good for interior work. 

Some varieties of this marble have a narrow, 
opaque white vein running among the spots. It 
cannot be put in until the spots are dry. These 
veins are made with a sable pencil, while the threads 
are drawn out afterward with the feather. - 


Granite—This is an igneous rock, its three con- 
stituents—quartz, mica, and feldspar—having en- 


Description of Tools and Materials 181 


- tered into a state of cohesion while in a fused con- 
dition. It is the original, the most ancient rock. 
The union of these constituents is mechanical, hence 
the conglomeration of particles of small size, though 
with considerable variation in the matter of mag- 
nitude in different varieties. The general tone 
of color differs much. Gray is the most usual 
hue, varying through drab and salmon color to a 
rosy pink. 

To imitate granite the ground color will be made 
according to the character of granite to be imitated. 
For a gray granite, make the ground a bluish-gray, 
rather light of tone. For a red granite, a ground of 
_ pinkish blue with just a dash of deep red in it. The 
graining on this ground, which must first be dry, 
consists of small spots of black and white thickly 
sprinkled or spattered over the whole surface of the 
work. The black spots are first put on. This may 
be done with a stiff hair mottler, stippling the entire 
surface, then with another mottler stipple on the 
white spots. Another way is to use a sponge of 
large pore, dipped in color and dabbed over the work. 
This, of course, makes a coarser grain, and while it 
does for coarse granite, it will not do for the fine 
grained. 

In some granites the particles of black feldspar 
are not only very small, but are rather thinly dis- 
tributed. In other granites, again, the black par- 
ticles are so large and numerous as to cause the 
granite to appear nearly black. 


182 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler 


Imitation of Tortoise Shell—TYwo methods for this 
work are here given: First method: Upon a ground 
a few shades lighter than the lightest tone in the 
tortoise shell glaze with raw sienna for yellow tor-. 
toise, and with burnt sienna with a little Vandyke 
brown for red tortoise shell. When the glaze is 
dry, paint the dark spots with Vandyke brown 
and the finest black, using a pencil brush, sponge, 
or rag. When this is dry, glaze the whole again ~ 
with the first glazing color. This manner of tor- | 
toise shell imitation may also be done with water 
colors. But it is most convenient to use oil colors, 
which are mixed in the same manner as in wood 
graining. 

Second method: The surface to be grained is 
painted with red lead, which serves as the ground for 
the tortoise shell. When this is dry enough for 
graining, the surface is moistened with water and 
dabbed irregularly with dry lampblack, in water. 
Vandyke brown and raw sienna, each ground sepa- 
rately in vinegar, is also dabbed on, using a flat paint 
brush; then blend, conforming to the structure of 
the tortoise shell. The fact that the work has pre- 
viously been moistened with water will facilitate 
the work. After drying for twenty-four hours the 
surface is glazed with red lake, a water color. Then 
take a soft, rather moist piece of sponge and roll it 
over the surface just glazed, whereby the light parts 
will be produced. ‘Then the surface is to be blended, 
and finally varnished. 


Description of Tools and Materials 183 


Marbled Background on Glass or Wood.—Have a 
pan that will take in a sheet of glass or wood of the 
size you wish, pour into it an inch or so of water, 
and then pour on to the water any oil colors that 
you wish, red, blue, or what not; take a stick and stir 
around the oil colors, to form them into shapes more 
or less curly; then allow the water to become quiet. 
Now take the glass or board that is to be marbled 
and dip it carefully, face down, on to the surface of 
toewwater, then hit it: out carefully, turn it over 
quickly, and lay it down flat to dry. When it is 
nearly dry take a brush and blend the colors. If 
you wish you can dip the plate again, but not blend 
the colors. 

In dipping glass some of the colors may run to 
the other side, but this can easily be cleaned off. 
When you use a board the ground color should be 
painted first, but in the case where glass is done the 
ground color is put on after the marbleizing is dry. 


Devon Marble.—There is a very fine reddish marble 
by this name, much in favor for pilasters and mantel- 
pieces. Its ground is white, and the marbling is 
done on the wet white oil-painted ground with a 
light’ slate color scumbled over part of the ground 
with a sash tool, after which the work is softened 
together with the blender. When this work is dry 
the predominant coloring of the marble is worked 
over the surface with a broad fitch and a feather. 
Make the red with Venetian red 4 parts, burnt 


184 Standard Grainer, Stainer, and Marbler~ 


umber 1 part, and white lead 2 parts. The broad 
white veins are put in last and lightly blended. It 
will be necessary to go over the white veins and patches 
a second time in order to get them pure white. 


In color marble ranges from pure white through 
all shades of gray to black. Yellow, pink, red, 


Fig. 25.—Italian Griotte. 


violet, and green are common. The grays and 
blacks are due to carbonaceous matter, the others 
mainly to iron oxides. Color and adaptibility to 
polishing are the chief features desired in marbles for 
decorative purposes. Marbles of this kind are more 
or less metamorphosed limestones. As to the names 
given to marbles, there are those given in this work, 
and, in addition, Brocatelle, Bird’s-eye, Landscape, 


Description of Tools and Materials 185 


Saccharoidal, which has the texture of loaf-sugar, 
Shell, such as the Red Devon Coral, and the Sep- 
. terium, Rouge, of Belgium, St. Anne, Italian Griotte, 
Irish Green, and Tennessee, with others, unnecessary 
to enumerate, though fine marbles. 


GETTY CENTER LIBRARY 


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